Post on 28-Mar-2016
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1 www.KnightsbridgeSchools.com Knightsbridge Schools International
Welcome to Our World
Issue 2
Above & Beyond
Reflections 2011‐2012
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Welcome to the second edition of our annual
Reflections Magazine 2011‐2012
For additional copies or previous editions please contact :
Fleur Primavera Knightsbridge Schools International,
124‐128 Barlby Road, Unit 43, London W10 6BL
UNITED KINGDOM Tel: +44 (0)20 3159 4021
Email: f.primavera@knightsbridgeschools.com
A very special thank you to Fleur Primavera for coordinating the Reflections 2011‐2012 Magazine with our Office Support Connor McKeever and Volunteer Mary Robins. Together with our KSI staff writers we have created a superb
collection of reflective articles. We have learned so much from each other through our collaborative leadership.
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Magazine Content 2011‐2012
Editor Marguerite Lopez
Innovation Melanie Flores Seana Ford Burhan Yildiz Milija Bozovic
Mastery Meaghan Low Jenny von Zastrow Corinne Gerling
Authenticity Amy Townsend Magoo Giles Isil Adakli
Guts Colleen MacFarlane Marija Dukic
Ethics Jennifer Dwyer Tamara Radakovic
A Note from the Editor 6 The HUMAN IMAGE of Collaborative Leadership
Sharing Responsibilities 10 Learning and growing in the first bilingual Kindergarten
Innovative Approach 11 I love teaching Kindergarten!
Tools for Learning 13 ICT is a natural learning tool
Favourite Links 15 An iDay in a PYP classroom
Steep Learning Curve 18 A year full of new experiences
iLearn, iReflect, iRead, iPad 20 The learning process is magical
Out of Retirement 22 30 plus years of practice has been sculpted over decades by the work of many
Making Connections 24 Turkish Teens take on a literary classic
A Trip to Bogota 26 The fruits of 6 years of vision
Challenging Adventure 27 What it feels it feels to be part of the KGCP
Theory to Practice 28 Reflections of a first year teacher
Teaching EAL Learners 30 Every situation is a language learning opportunity
Building Trust 31 Collaborative leadership encourages ownership of everyone in the school
Global Learning 32 Collaboration with new cultures
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Helpfulness Mustafa Karagol Orcun Baris Aleksandar Perovic
Understanding Serpil Cerniski Robin‐Michelle LeRoux Ebru Bahadir
Mingle Belen Bas Corine van den Wildenberg Fleur Primavera
Amuse Yasemin Usta & Tugce Sert Martina Dujmusic Nadja Zivkovic
Nurture Nazli Acici Kismet Incer Dorothy‐Ann DeFreitas Knightsbridge School
Communication is the Key 33 When the team plans together the success belongs to everyone
Team Planning 34 Collaborative leadership in our school
Old is New Again 35 Our school is housed in an old hotel.....
Teachers as Learners 37 In teaching others we teach ourselves
Climbing Trees 39 Collaborative leadership in the classroom
Inquiry Learning 40 Inquiry baaed learning fo0r teachers and students
KGCP Cultural and Language Exchange 41 Adventures in London
Constructing Meaning 42 More than making connections
Knightsbridge Pioneers 44 Building of international relationships and teams
Joy of Cooking 48 A new horizon in extracurricular activities
A Child’s Smile 49 After school activity is very important for children's development
ESL Learners 50 I plan for the end in mind
Inspiring Young Minds 51 Working in the heart of curiosity
Making a Difference 52 We learn best when we learn together
Flip Side 54 We all have a little trick or two we can share
Planting the Idea 56 Knightsbridge School London RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012
Welcome to our World Colombia 57 Colombia Opening Ceremony 58 PYP Curriculum Implementation Overview 2012‐2013 60 IB Learner Profile 61 Knightsbridge Schools International Director’s Comments 62 Knightsbridge Schools International Staff 2011 ‐ 2012 64
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T he theme of this year’s REFLECTIONS magazine is “collaborative leadership.” All of us at Knightsbridge Schools International (KSI) were
challenged to seek opportunities to take on responsibilities beyond our defined roles. We were encouraged to share information, resources and personal passions with each other. Our aim was to help each other grow by collectively achieving our goals. By being active communicators and involving our team members in decision making, this issue of REFLECTIONS clearly
illustrates how we were empowered to take risks and fully engage as collaborative leaders. Being successful as collaborative leaders has been achieved by the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stacked up over time to produce achievements far beyond anything KSI could have ever planned for. Our KSI team infuses leadership into everything they do. One of my favourite authors and leadership gurus, Robin Sharma, said that “leadership is about having unshakeable faith in your visions and unrelenting confidence in your power to make positive change happen.” This year’s REFLECTIONS articles demonstrate this belief and are subsequently organised under two distinct and powerful acronyms: IMAGE and HUMAN. The IMAGE that KSI leaders have in their respective communities has enabled them to inspire, influence and elevate each person by their gifts of great examples. HUMAN leadership means treating all stakeholders with
respect, appreciation and kindness. IMAGE involves innovation, mastery, authenticity, guts and ethics. INNOVATION is about a deeply held commi tment t o making everything you touch better than you find it. It is all about making today better than ye s t e rday . Constantly reinventing ourselves is the essence of innovation. Daily ripples of superior performance add up over time to a tidal wave of outrageous success. Melanie, Seana, Burhan and Milija demonstrated their keen desire to push the limits of the known and create new programmes and opportunities for students. MASTERY means giving nothing less than your very best. Expect more from yourself than anyone around you could ever expect from you. Work offers you a daily platform to discover the leader within. It’s a chance, every day, to reclaim more of the potential you’ve buried and to awaken the dormant relationship between the current you and the absolute best you. Ideas are ultimately worthless unless you activate them with focused and consistent action. Lots of people have good ideas. But the masters become masters because they had the courage and conviction to act on ideas. Small daily improvements over time really do lead to stunning results. Meaghan, Jenny and Corrine show us how they continue to improve and challenge themselves and others to achieve mastery in our careers as teachers and life long learners. AUTHENTICITY is about feeling safe in your own skin and learning to trust yourself so that you work under your values, express your original voice and be the best you can be. It’s about knowing who you are, what you stand for and then having the courage to be yourself in
A Note from the Editor Maggie Lopez The HUMAN IMAGE of Collaborative Leadership
Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expecta‐tions unless he or she be‐gins with some wild expec‐tations” Ralph Charell
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every situation rather than only when it’s convenient. It’s about being real, consistent, and congruent so who you are on the inside is reflected by the way you perform on the outside. And being authentic and true to yourself also means that you meet your potential and brilliance – because that’s who you truly are. When you give yourself permission to be open, real, and brilliant around others, you give others permission to be open, real and brilliant around you. Just being around you makes them feel safe – and heroic. They begin to relax and open up. Trust grows. And amazing things start to happen. Living authentically means spending their lives well in pursuit of a meaningful cause. Amy, Isil and Magoo illustrate how their humanity and commitment to being real and living our values makes a powerful difference in the lives we touch. Having GUTS is about being unrealistically persistent and wildly courageous. You’ll need to dare more than the reasonable person and risk far more than the ordinary person. The more you leave your valleys of comfort in passionate pursuit of opportunity, the more obstacles you’ll face as you make your climb. Setbacks will happen. Things will go wrong. And even the people around you will try to discourage you. Those that are clinging to the old way of doing things and frightened by the change will join hands and be your loudest critics. To have guts to see opportunities where others see challenges and to envision things becoming a whole lot better while others grow complacent is to become a visionary. Colleen and Marija tell us how they stay passionately committed to their vision and have the strength to keep expressing their absolute best. ETHICS is about knowing that you will never go wrong in doing what is right. Leadership success lies at the intersection where excellence meets honour. Nothing is more precious in work than staying consistent with your values and protecting your good name. In so many ways, your reputation is all you have. Ultimately, people will flock to you or run from you based on your reputation. Given this reality – maintain a pristine name and guard your personal brand by being impeccably ethical. Be exquisitely honest. Say what you mean and then mean what you say. Be ferociously humble. And vow to yourself to work with the strength of character of the people you most admire. Jennifer and Tamara show how integrity always leads to beautiful rewards. Being HUMAN ensures that we are helpful and understanding, and aim to mingle, amuse and nurture each other. The deeper our relationships, the stronger our leadership. Our main objective is to connect with – and add value to – people. It is important to lead a happy and meaningful life. An enterprise is nothing more than
a human venture that brings people together around some marvellous dream that inspires them to express the fullest of their talents and contribute rich value to those they serve. Another purpose of business is to actually be helpful. Surrounded by engaged, excited, and superb people working at the greatest level of their abilities, KSI will do splendidly well – not only in times of prosperity but times of difficulty too. Everyone does matter. And every teammate’s actions count. And each relationship cascades throughout the entire company. One superb relationship inspires the next conversation, which moves onto the next one. And the ripple effect ultimately determines what the culture of the entire place will be like and the quality of the results the enterprise will achieve. HELPFULNESS is about everyone wanting to know that we are expanding our potential and growing as people. Every one of us wants to know that no matter what we do for employment, we are somehow making a difference. Mustafa, Orcun and Aleksandar show how being helpful builds team spirit and makes everyone feel good about working together. UNDERSTANDING is about deep listening, speaking less and listening more. You really honour someone by giving them great listening. Leadership is about listening and allowing others to feel heard. When you listen, the person speaking begins to feel understood. They feel safe, trust grows and that person begins to realise that you have their best interests in mind and so they begin to give you their very best. Serpil, Robyn‐Michelle and Ebru share how they have developed understanding with their students and team members. MINGLE is about being out there connecting with teammates and networking with customers. There is awesome value in circulation. When people see your
Left to Right: Dimitri Goulandris, Maggie Lopez and Prince Max at the KSI ‐ Colegio La Candelaria, Colombia School Opening in August 2012
Be all you can be
Global Citizen Keep smiling
Keep striving Inquirer KS Code
Caring Reflective
Risk‐takers
Open‐minded Thinkers Balanced Knowledgeable
face, you stand out. They get to know you. They begin to like you. And always remember that people love doing business with people they like. Keeping relationships clean and strong is strikingly important. Belen, Corine and Fleur demonstrate how mingling with one another builds long lasting connections. AMUSE is about working hard and playing hard. Having fun while you do great work will help you boost your productivity. Fun makes you more engaged in whatever
you are doing. Fun makes you want to collaborate more. When people are having fun, the energy of the entire organisation shifts into higher and higher levels. When people are enjoying themselves at work, their stress levels are lower and far more apt to go above and beyond by working harder. Yasemin & Tugce, Martina and Nadja share how having fun with the students has enriched the teaching and learning environments in their schools. NURTURE is being nice. Being nice isn’t being weak. Leaders brilliantly balance being compassionate with being courageous. Being friendly with being firm. Being sincere with being strong. Being tender and tough at the same time. That’s a rare balance point to get right. Make the time each day amid the chaos of your everyday tasks to grow your relationships, offer those around you a smile, a positive word, or a caring gesture. Be spectacularly caring. Leave every single person who intersects your path better, happier, and more engaged than you found them. Nazli, Kismet and Dorothy‐Ann show how they have nurtured the whole child by being nice, friendly, sincere and tender. Thank you KSI for performing at your absolute best in 2011‐12. Our ride together has been full of fun, inspiration and entertainment. You have collectively demonstrated effective collaborate leadership and how we have enhanced the teaching and learning in order to address the overarching mission of Knightsbridge
Schools International. “We can all lead where we are planted and SHINE where we find ourselves.” – Robin Sharma Also, I would also like to extend a very warm KSI welcome to Gloria Sandoval, the new Director of our school in Bogota, Colombia as well as all the teaching and support staff that have joined her in this new venture. Your collective commitment to our mission demonstrated the power of our vision and code to transform and educate a community of global citizens. We wish you all great success and happiness this school year and look forward to collaborating within our growing global network of schools.
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We can all lead where we are planted and SHINE where we find ourselves” Robin Sharma
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Above: Media coverage of the KSI– Colegio La Candelaria School Opening Event in Colombia from CARAS magazine
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O ver the past two years I have been lucky enough to work with a group of dedicated teachers who believe in the importance of quality education
and strive to meet the needs of each student. This year my experience working to help establish and teach the first Bilingual Kindergarten Programme (BKP) was truly a learning and growing experience for me. Our team was a dynamic group of international, bilingual and local Turkish teachers who collaboratively helped plan, teach and ensure the success of this program. Our team quickly experienced professional growth under the guidance and support of our KG coordinator, Pinar Gulenc. This allowed our team to establish both professional and educational objectives that were in sync with the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) values. Weekly KG team planning sessions allowed us to share ideas not only about the programme of inquiry, but professional articles, books and videos which would later become a useful resource for the rest of the kindergarten team. Collaborative leadership allowed our team to share responsibilities and exchange our learning with our parents, school and the community. The feedback we have received from the parents and the community has all been incredibly positive. The success of the programme is a direct result of our collaborative team planning and enthusiasm for the program. Collaborative leadership extends beyond our classroom; we have had many opportunities to work directly with our partner school, KS Montenegro. Their support and understanding of the challenges and issues that may arise when opening a new programme have been an invaluable source of information for our team. This past March, Corine van den Wildenberg was able to help guide us through some of our challenges while offering feedback to help improve the BKP. Not only was Corine an effective support for us, but also the dedicated
team of teachers was always willing to assist us in any way they could. This year was a rewarding teaching year. I observed my students come into the classroom with limited English and leave the classroom with the confidence to speak in English and with a love for learning new languages. My hope for next year is that the BKP will continue to set an example of quality education and that all incoming teachers will experience the learning opportunities which this school has provided to me. I would like to extend my thanks to all of the Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge team who have supported me over the last two years, I will miss you all and I will cherish the memories of our time together.
Melanie Flores Melanie is a KGCP Bilingual Kindergarten teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji in Kocaeli. She has been a part of the teaching team since September 2010.
Sharing Responsibilities Learning & growing in the first bilingual Kindergarten
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I n 2010‐2011 it was decided that there was going to be a New Bilingual Kindergarten Programme for the following academic year. When meeting to discuss
the overall vision, with my colleagues and department heads, I became very excited about all of the possibilities. I love teaching kindergarten and now I had the opportunity to help design a one‐of‐a‐ kind programme, one which takes an innovative approach to education, has all of the latest resources and small class sizes. As time went on I soon realised that this could be easier said than done. One of the things I value most about working with Knightsbridge International Schools (KSI) is the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas. All who were involved in the development of the programme come from different cultural backgrounds and teaching experiences. Some have been a part of education for years while others, like myself, had only just begun.
Nevertheless, we all shared the responsibility of making the programme happen. With the excitement of this new programme came a multitude of ideas and questions and, consequently, just as many meetings, Skype conversations and emails. Then, once we all had a clear idea of what we wanted, we established a plan of action. We had to research educational resources, complete budget forms, design the curriculum and KSI Animal Codes, etc. Finally, before the school year was over, we created a presentation to give to the community about the programme. To be honest, not a lot of people showed up for the presentation however, we continued smiling and
s e t a n o t h e r presentation date just before we left for summer vacation. In August we all came back together and began to plan some more. This time we had two e x p e r i e n c e d educators come to our school to provide professional development workshops. We learned so much from them and they were gracious enough to lend their support and suggestions for the programme. We also met with the Turkish teachers as well as the classroom assistant, who would be a part of our programme, and continued to collaborate with them. Now we were ready, well as ready as we were going to be, to welcome our students. When our students came for the orientation we were surrounded with cuteness. However, I started to wonder if our expectations were set a little too high; they were practically babies. Initially, when school started, it was a little challenging for both us and the students. Not only was this a new programme but there was a massive language barrier between the students and myself. We were aware of this before starting the programme but now it was reality. This was when our collaborative leadership excelled the most. Together we, the international teachers and the native teachers, planned after school to ensure that the learning material was being supported in both the English and Turkish lessons. We also taught each other the important vocabulary words so that we all knew them in Turkish and English. Furthermore, we shared student observations and made modifications when it was necessary.
Seana Ford Seana is a KGCP Bilingual Kindergarten teacher at Bahcesehir‐ Knightsbridge Koleji in Kocaeli. She has been a part of the teaching team since September 2010.
Innovative Approach I love teaching Kindergarten!
“ Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Henry Ford
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As it turns out our expectations were set high.....but they were met and exceeded by the students. Teachers within the school were very impressed when they saw videos of the students reading and doing addition on the computer. Parents marvelled at their child’s performance during the Student Led Conferences and were excited to tell us what the students were saying at home IN ENGLISH. Although no one was as proud as us! These students are amazing and seeing their growth from the beginning to now is astonishing. They are still as cute as ever but they truly transformed, taking the learner profile and attitudes and are running with them. Even though the year is over, the collaboration continues. Recently, we were asked to visit another Bahcesehır School in Istanbul. They heard about the success of our programme and wanted to learn more, in hopes of implementing a similar programme within their school. This was a great opportunity to reflect on the year and collaborate with others. Although what I enjoyed most was being on the other side. This time, they were the ones filled with tons of questions and concerns. I just sat back and continued to ‘keep smiling.’ It’s a big project, lots of challenges but the end result is more than worth it. R
This was the first day of school which was also the beginning of our Friendship Unit
The students love the different learning centers. Here they are practicing their addition and subtraction on starfall.com
Our cozy reading nook is one of the favourite spots amongst the students, they enjoy getting together to share their stories
Be all you can be
Keep smiling
Inquirer KS Code
Caring
Tools for Learning
W e have almost made it to the end of another year that has again proven the key role of In fo rmat ion and Communica t ion
Technologies (ICT) in student learning. This year I have seen kindergarten students working on presentations created using Power Point. I have witnessed Lower Primary (LP) students adding new topics to their class
forum and commenting on each other’s posts in order to illustrate their understanding of communities, both virtual and physical. I have watched 11‐12 year olds fulfill specific team roles as they design a website to encourage sustainable energy use and I have seen students from age 7 to age 12 learning typing skills using online typing tutorials and designing their personal websites using basic HTML codes. As a person coming from a traditional primary school background, it is really difficult for me to explain how exciting it is to see our young learners using ICT as a natural learning tool. While planning the units of inquiries, we came up with great ideas to use ICT as an effective tool in the learning process. We mostly focused on the usage of the ICT by the students to research, reflect and organise during the lessons. We also aimed to encourage our students to keep learning and thinking about the central idea individually outside the school by using the Internet and other software that they can easily access anywhere. The following two examples will show the most effective ICT based learning platforms that we found with our students during the units. Our second unit's central idea in LP was that public areas strengthen communities and provide people with opportunities to connect. During team planning sessions, we discussed with the LP teachers the change in understanding of the communities from strictly physical environments to virtual environments such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We decided that we needed to provide our learners a virtual community of their own to
develop an understanding of their rights and responsibilities within an online community. This led me to develop a forum using a very simple to use forum hosting website, lefora.com. Using this free service, I created a forum with a main discussion board for each grade. I also created the teacher accounts, making them moderators, which gave them the authority to be informed of any post by email and edit or delete them as they saw fit. We planned 2 introduction lessons in which the students applied for a membership to this forum and learned how to create new topics, attach images to their posts and comment on
each other’s posts. After the introduction, the students started using the forum freely at school or at home. Because their discussion board was shared across grade levels and they were able to post on other grades' discussion boards, they had the chance to share, discuss and learn with any of the 200 students in grades 1, 2 and 3. I believe that the idea of using the modern understanding of public places helped our learners to inquire into the interconnectedness of the communities they currently interact with every day and will continue
Burhan Yildiz Burhan is the ICT Coordinator for the KGCP at Bahcesehir‐ Knightsbridge Koleji in Kocaeli. He has been apart of the KGCP team since September 2010.
Reflective
Risk‐takers
Open‐minded Thinkers Balanced Knowledgeable
The students work together to develop their own inquiry by using ICT in the classroom. Here children are using lefora.com to develop a forum
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to for the rest of their lives. Another successful project that we created with our students this year was the energyking.com website. In Upper Primary's 3rd unit of inquiry, we asked our students to inquire about sustainable energy. The grade 5 teacher expressed a desire to incorporate a website design into her summative assessment. For me this was an ideal opportunity as it is a particular passion of mine. My colleague
and I planned the whole process of developing and creating the websites with the students. She divided the students into different teams depending on their skills and strength. In the end, we had five teams: the coordinators, the research team, the media team, the design team and the input team. All teams were connected to each other and the students were going to work on the same project with different responsibilities. I set up a Wordpress content management system for each class' website in order to make it easier to add or edit their articles or design the pages and themes. The students had 3 lessons of introduction on creating a well functioning website; including citing rules, finding appropriate media for the articles and the use of the interface of the content management system. The students started designing their websites to reflect their learning. The result was a success. During the process, students could follow their projects development and they experienced the challenges of working as a team. This gave them an opportunity to work collaboratively on a common target. When I compare the first and second year of the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) in Kocaeli, I can clearly see that the use of ICT during the lessons became more natural in the
second year. While the first year, was mostly an orientation year regarding the use of ICT as a tool, during the second year our inquiring learners embraced it and used it in a natural spirit. Seeing that it is really easy to adapt the advantages of technology, I am looking forward to working on more and more ICT supported lessons in the coming years.
As a person coming from a traditional primary school background, it is really difficult for me to explain how exciting it is to see our young learners using ICT as a natural learning tool.”
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COMMUNI CATI ON
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Milija Bozovic Milija is a Year 5 and 6 teacher at Knightsbridge Schools Montenegro. He has been a member of a Montenegrin team since August 2011 and has been team teaching with Corine Gerling.
I t would scarcely be a debatable assertion to say that, in today’s world, technology constitutes an important part of our everyday life and therefore,
our teaching. In fact, many articles have been written on this subject and we are all witnesses to how the advances in both technology and educational theories complement each other. However, many researchers emphasise that pedagogy must drive technology and not vice versa, even though the latter is quite common in today’s world. Consequently, it can indeed be a real challenge to relate our knowledge of technology to classroom strategies i.e. the pedagogy necessary for furthering learning, in this case, the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP). This has certainly been and continues to be my personal professional inquiry in my first year of teaching. Technology doubtless develops precipitously and even though some of the things you read here may be obsolete by the time this paper is published, this article aims to present some of the ways technology can be used in PYP classrooms using the examples from Knightsbridge School Montenegro, Year 5‐6 Class. Our class is now in the sixth and final unit of inquiry for this year, our central idea being ‘Economic activity relies on systems of production, exchange and consumption of goods and services.’ Being very familiar with our daily routine, our students know what to do as soon as they enter the classroom. They start their computers and go to our Class Blog, www.ksclass5‐6.blogspot.com, which is set as the homepage on our computers. Blogs are an excellent way of creating class identity. Here we regularly share our learning so both the students and their parents are updated with the latest information
regard ing our l ea rn ing engagements. On the right side of our blog page there is a list of our favourite links. The students first go to ‘BBC Typing’ and continue with their typing practice from the previous day, developing better muscle memory. After this session, they close the typing screen and go to ‘GoGo News’ – a web page that has the latest current events for kids. Very often an interesting article comes up and we all read together, especially when it is linked to our current unit of inquiry. After the homework has been checked we do our unit of inquiry work, currently centred on the law of supply and demand, surplus, shortage and equilibrium point. To accompany the great number of books we read, the students are shown some stimulating videos, which can be found in the ‘Interesting Videos’ section of our blog. Because they are embedded on the page, the students are not exposed to ‘related videos’ that appear for instance on YouTube and which, sometimes, can be anything but related and relevant. In addition, all the students’ computers have AdBlock installed, thus making sure they cannot see any of the advertisements that often accompany the most visited web pages. While the material is being presented to the students and during a brief discussion about the videos they watched, the students form questions for which they then find the answers on their own. These later develop into deeper
Favourite Links An iDay in a PYP classroom
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inquiries. Their inquiries recently led them to investigate the companies that produce their favourite products. For the purpose of this article, I will only mention one student’s work, related to the LEGO Company. The process was observed as follows: The student takes an iPad and goes to his corner of the room. Swiftly flicking through the pages of apps (applications), he opens SimpleMind+, which is a useful app for making webs or mind maps. Here, the student looks at his web and sees how much he managed to find out so far and thinks about what else he can add to his mind map since today he learned about distribution of goods and services, he wonders how LEGO distributes their products and decides that will be his inquiry for the day.
Thus, he makes another ‘bubble’ in his web, called ‘Distribution’ and leaves it like that for the time being. Following that, he opens Diigo and logs in with his username and password. Diigo is a free online bookmarking web site. It collects Internet bookmarks and stores them in one place; it functions like a living bibliography of sources. Why is this useful? When inquiring about a certain topic, for instance tigers, imagine you have a number of books piled up in front of you. You would read through one of them and then note relevant information in a notebook. Afterwards you would pick up a different book, read
relevant information and put it down again in your notebook. A great advantage of using the Internet is the fact that you can copy and paste the text from various websites and store it all in one place, for instance a Word file (indicating the source and modelling academic honesty is of huge importance). Sometimes, you simply do not have time to read the whole article so you can save the bookmark and go through it at a later point. Diigo saves all your bookmarks in one place and not only bookmarks ‐ it saves pieces of text, images, videos, your own notes, the source, etc. These travel with you all the time, as long as you know your username and password. As a teacher, I created a Diigo account and applied for an educator upgrade, which enabled me to create student accounts. Now the students are logging into Diigo without having to provide their emails or any other personal details. When the student who is inquiring about LEGO logs goes into Diigo on the iPad, he sees his library with all the bookmarks, images, notes, videos, etc. that he has saved while doing the research. He then exits the Diigo app and opens another one, called Diigo Browser (formerly iChromy). Diigo Browser, suggested to me by Mr. Christopher M. Casal, Technology Teacher/Coordinator at Magnet School for Math, Science & Design Technology, New York, has all the attributes of a regular Safari browser ‐ only this one can do more! To be more precise, in Diigo Browser, students can highlight any pieces of information or images and the highlighted material goes directly to their Diigo accounts. Of course, they can also bookmark the whole page. The student first went to our blog and then to ‘Google for Kids’ . This is another of our favourite links. It was
explained that this type of search is safe for him and will not show anything inappropriate to the age group. 'Googling' ‘LEGO distribution’ he found that LEGO cooperates with DHL and how they distribute their
“ Technology in schools should be like oxygen ‐ ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.”
Be all you can be
Keep smiling
Keep striving Inquirer KS Code
Caring
products. As he was reading the material on the web, he highlighted the relevant information that immediately went straight to Diigo, together with the information about the source page. Happy with his findings, he closed the Diigo Browser and went to Diigo to once again check if everything was there, but also to tag the entries, give them titles and descriptions so his collection would be better organized. After he read his findings once again, he went back to SimpleMind+ and added more ‘sub‐bubbles’ to his ‘Distribution’, so compiling information so he can eventually present his full inquiry. After recess, there is Mathematics, during which the students enjoy hands‐on activities, such as making charts and creating power polygons. Then, it is back to the computers for the writing session. Presently we are working on story endings and it is now time to add the final paragraphs to their stories. When they neatly type their stories, the students save them to Dropbox, a programme that is installed on all the school computers. This programme lets us create a folder where everything that goes inside may be shared with selected users, in this case, the whole school. This way, they can also see and edit their stories at home where they have Dropbox installed as well.....no need to carry a USB stick! When their stories are done, edited and proofread by the teacher, they are published on our blog. We are currently using Youblisher, which enables us to publish stories in a magazine view, with flappable pages. The last session is devoted to Rosetta Stone, a computer‐assisted language learning programme which creates an interactive and linguistically rich environment and focuses learners' attention on immersion and thus strives to make language acquisition as close as possible to the natural method by which we all learned our first language. It is immensely important to keep up with technology since our lives, work, transportation, communication etc, are based around it. However, as our School Director, Corine van den Wildenberg, always says, it is significant to ask ourselves one question before we start using technology in classrooms, that question is, “So what?”
Technology should not be used for the sake of technology, but rather as a very helpful tool to get into a central idea in a smoother, smarter and more sophisticated manner.
Perhaps the statement I first heard from Kathy Epps from the International School of Central Switzerland, and originally coined by Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, USA, best explains the use of technology, "Technology in schools should be like oxygen: ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible." It is likewise my unwavering opinion that the use of technology will help children grasp the concepts and transdisciplinary PYP themes more easily and prepare them better for the world in which they will live.
Reflective
Risk‐takers
Open‐minded Thinkers Balanced Knowledgeable
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Year 5 students at KS Montenegro use Diigo Browser to conduct research utilising iPads
Year 3 & 4 students learn to use Simplemind+ to organise information
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A s another year with the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme comes to a close, I look back and I am overwhelmed by
all that has transpired since I first set foot in Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji Kocaeli almost two years ago. My first year was full of new experiences and learning opportunities and I ended the year feeling as though I had learned a lot about the school, the programme, inquiry‐based learning and collaborative leadership. I felt confident and secure entering my second year. I knew I still had a lot to learn and that I would meet many new challenges over the year. I was excited. I like a steep learning curve. I had planned out my professional learning inquiry to explore second language acquisition and to incorporate the Daily 5 approach to balanced literacy into our students’ learning journey. I read and researched both topics but as I reflect upon the year this inquiry is not what stands out. I realise that I experienced multiple inquiries simultaneously without recognising that they were occurring. I learned how to be a good team coordinator and how to deal with difficult situations. I learned a lot about team teaching and the special balance that is required to achieve a productive classroom environment. In short, I became overwhelmed by all I have learned this year.
I struggled to sort it all out. It was a challenge to see which fruits were the product of which efforts. So I relaxed and took it as a whole. I thought of all the words that describe this year, most positive but not all, and used them to create a word splash. I looked through the pictures I have taken to create a collage. Together these things reflect what I learned this year.
Meaghan Low Meaghan is a KGCP Lower Primary teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. She has been a member of the KGCP since September 2010 and continues into her third year at the school.
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Steep learning curve A year full of new experiences
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T here is nothing I enjoy more than facilitating and watching students learn. When students get excited about what they are doing and they can’t
wait to, “get on with it” then I get excited. The process of learning to read and write is slow and always ongoing. Nevertheless, when young students learn to read their first book they beam with pride and happiness. When they write their first sentence the same self‐adoration is present. It is wonderful watching students experience and express this enjoyment regardless if they are learning in their native tongue, a second or third language. As a teacher it is delightful to see this sense of pride and wonderment present when students are
learning. The learning process is magical! This year I set a goal of having my students engage more fully in self‐reflection of their own learning. I had hoped that through the self‐reflection process students would be inspired to take ownership of and set some of their own learning goals. I posted continuums, we conferenced, other students gave feed‐back, and of course they reflected through writing. Throughout this process students voiced how they thought they were doing and they looked for what they liked about a project, writing piece, or math activity. As well, they got insight into how their learning was progressing and came up with plans on how to move forward. It was inspiring to watch them create their own goals and work towards them. Reading however was a different story. The students in my class were at vastly different reading levels for various reasons. When asked to reflect on their own reading, all the students responded that they were reading well and would generally reply, “My reading is okay.” It was not easy to have students evaluate each other due to their reading levels being so different. Therefore, students continued to conference with me and I helped them set their goals. A few months into the school year the school received their first six iPads. Worried that I would not be able to incorporate the iPads into the classroom in a meaningful way I didn’t do much with them. One day I was working with a student who was having trouble pronouncing the ‘th’ sound that is so common in the English language. It was at this moment that I grabbed an iPad and recorded him as he read. Once he heard himself reading and speaking it was much easier to help him correct and say the ‘th’ sound.
Jenny Von Zastrow Jenny is the Year 3 and 4 teacher at KS Montenegro joining the team in August 2011.
iLearn, iReflect, iRead, iPad The learning process is magical
Above: Students record each other reading and speaking in English to later analyse their pronunciation Below: Students have one‐to‐one reading with Ms Jenny
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This ‘spur of the moment’ idea compelled me to use the iPad as a tool to help students reflect on their reading and set their own reading goals. We began a trial period of having the student’s use the iPad to record each other reading books at their appropriate reading level. The students were all very excited about this. It was great fun for them to learn to use and become comfortable with the iPads. As their skills of recording and using the iPads improved they each created a catalogue of reading samples that documented their progress as readers. They would bring the reading sample with them to their reading conferences and with my guidance they were able to decide what they wanted their reading goals to be. They were taking charge of their own learning! They also experienced the power of setting goals and monitoring their own progress. They noted if goals had been accomplished, if they need to be revised, or if they should continue to work toward the current goal.
The iPad has turned into a classroom tool that is used daily. Not only are the students comfortable using it to document their learning but they are happy to share
their progress with others. When it came time for the student led conference, the iPad recorded readings proved to be a great device for students to show their parents how their reading has changed over a period of time. Many students found it fun to have their parents read a passage into the iPad and then help them set goals. The iPad has allowed students to learn, reflect, read, beam with pride when they share their learning with others, accomplish a goal, and most importantly, get excited about learning.
The learning process is magical!” “ REFLECTI ON
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Above: Students record their own personal reading and use the iPads to sup‐port their learning Below: Students discuss each others learning after each recording on the iPad to discuss their reading progress
A ny inquiry is a journey, and even though we may pause along the way, it picks up and continues when the right provocation is presented, almost
as if the inquiry chooses you rather than you choosing the inquiry. When reflecting on my professional learning this year, I realised that my inquiry was not as I planned, on writing practice and how this fits into the Primary Years Programme (PYP), but rather a continuation of my previous work on reading. As a seasoned teacher of thirty plus years my practice has been sculpted over decades by the work of many. In the early eighties, influenced by the words of Frank Smith in ‘Insult to Intelligence’, I started to examine what was really important to the learning process. Thinking skills, ‘real’ work and reading for a purpose infiltrated instructional practice. This was quickly followed by the whole language movement and cooperative learning strategies. The children read real books and worked together. I became a reading teacher. In the nineties along came the work of Marie Clay and Reading Recovery. I began to individualise, calculate and ensure that students were reading material at 90% accuracy levels. My professional development embraced books by Richard Allington who advised that students read material at or above 95% accuracy, re‐read familiar material to build fluency, and read for extended periods of time. We incorporated semantics, syntax and phonics. Now I was really a reading teacher. Reading strategies became the focus by the millennium change. Academics analysed ‘what good readers do’ and reading instruction books flooded the market. Reciprocal teaching with its four solid strategies: predict, clarify, question and summarise, provided a basis for staff dialogue and common implementation. Teachers donned outfits and modeled the strategies. Additional refinements were made after reading an article in the International Reading Association Magazine titled R5.
My colleagues and I expanded the Reciprocal T e a c h i n g strategies and adopted the structure of R5. Our children were reading, relaxing, reflecting, responding and rapping. I thought I was finished with reading professional development. After all, I was definitely a reading teacher.
“reading, relaxing, reflecting, responding, and rapping.”
This year, when presented with copies of the Daily Five and the Reading Cafe I expected to skim the text and carry on with my life. To my surprise, these two works not only encompassed most of my previous learning but they provided more food for thought. I loved how the authors organised the teaching of reading into a user friendly methodology easily implemented by any teacher. The emphasis on student independence and ownership of the learning process fit well with the goals
Corinne Gerling Corinne is the Year 5 and 6 teacher at KS Montenegro. She joined the team in August 2011.
Out of Retirement Thirty plus years of practice has been sculpted over decades by the work of many
Year 5 student identifies reading strategy on the Literacy Cafe Menu Board
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of the Primary Years Programme. Teacher time can be spent evaluating and coaching individual learners. I began promptly to restructure reading instruction with my students. I organised my classroom to accommodate a ‘Cafe Menu’ bulletin board. I began teaching the menu strategies to my students. I improved my individual conference skills and my anecdotal notes now better reflect the strengths and needs of my students. Our staff at KS Montenegro has grown together as we teach our students reading strategies using common terminology and methods. We are all reading teachers! So, now, in May of 2012, my inquiry into reading will once again be placed on hold. Next year I’ll pick up on another long term project of mine, using problem solving in the teaching and learning of Mathematics. As for that inquiry into writing, well, I’m sure it will sort itself out – perhaps when I least expect it!
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Year 5 students enjoying “Read to self” The teacher uses expository text to model and discuss a comprehension strategy with year 5 students
I N Q U I R Y
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T his year has been full of new beginnings. In many ways I felt like my Grade 9 students, starting a new phase in my life. Also, this year marked a change in the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) High School
programme; course time would be divided in order to study an English literature course as well as the main grammar course. Authentic texts including poetry, fiction, non‐fiction, articles and film were to be the base of their studies. The idea of having the opportunity to be a part of this pedagogical shift excited me, however, the major question I faced was: How can the team introduce an authentic English literature program into the existing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum? For students accustomed to a textbook style language course, reading an entire novel in English seemed like asking the impossible. I can still remember the look of horror on some of their faces. To get them warmed up, the Grade 9 started off the year with a mix of short stories, poetry and news articles. It was a real pleasure to see students involved in the material and interested in real issues that affect people in other parts of the world. Through class discussions and student presentations you could really see the development of global citizens who empathised with the experiences of others. Next, the class took on the mammoth task of reading the Nobel Prize winning novel, Lord of the Flies. With its rich language and embedded social commentary, I was concerned with the class’ ability to truly engage with the text. Fortunately, they rose above and beyond my expectations! Imagery, metaphor and literary conflict were only a few of the devices we explored while delving into the text. It was a truly proud moment to hear the students discuss the novel as a commentary on human nature and not merely a story about a few school boys lost on an island. During the class field trip to Kocaeli Fuarı students got to experience orienteering.
Making Connections Turkish teens take on a literary classic
Amy Townsend Amy is a KGCP High School teacher at Bahcesehir‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. She has been a member of the KGCP since September 2011.
How can the team introduce an authentic High School English Literature program into the existing English as a Foreign Language curriculum?”
“ Students participating in an orienteering course (lead by Ms Suna) with only a map and compass (no phones, etc.) to support the novel Lord of the Flies; promoting teamwork and respect
Be all you can be
Keep smiling
Inquirer KS Code
Caring Reflective
Risk‐takers
Open‐minded Thinkers Balanced Knowledgeable
As they made their way around the course, the difficulties that arose mirrored many of the events in the text. With only a map, compass and their wits to guide them, disagreements, confusion and the splintering of groups occurred within the first hour! Fortunately, during our follow‐up discussions they were able to make connections between reality and the novel. It became clear how easy it is for people to fall apart in stressful situations. At the end of the novel the students wrote their first English literature composition. They wrote about everything from their favourite character to the major differences between the text and the film. “We can understand he is wise because he doesn’t lie to Ralph, not even Jack – and Jack hates him. He tells the truth no matter what because he knows lies aren’t good and lies will always, always be revealed. He is realistic, he knows they will be rescued but he doesn’t get his hopes up too much, he is still prepared for the worst”. (Damla K.) “The Lord of the Flies is filled with many exciting scenes. The first important scene is the pig’s head on a stick. They were hungry on the island, they wanted to catch and eat a pig. When all hopes and dreams were almost gone, Jack hunted a pig down and the boys finally got a good deal of meat. They cut off the pig’s head and Jack put the pig’s head on a stick at the outside the cave because they thought it was gift for the beast. They thought if they give the pig’s head the beast wouldn’t kill them”. (Anıl K.)
The growth from the start of the year was evident. Students who were once unable to express their ideas in English were writing about the optimism of characters in such difficult circumstances. Brilliant! My first year in the KGCP program at Kocaeli School has been a professionally rewarding one. I have learned that through the careful selection of texts and by providing an environment for open and honest discussion, all students, regardless of their English level, have the potential to understand and engage with English literature at a level equal to English natives at the same grade level.
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A group shot to accompany the pen pal letters written to a Grade 9 class from West Calder High School, Scotland; promoting Global Citizenship
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A fter the excitements of the last 6 years where we have managed to achieve our goal – to have in place a school from 3‐13 year olds who are
inspired and supported both in and out of school by their parents and teachers. It was so exciting to ‘cross the divide’ and to see the extension of the dream in Bogota. My idea in July 2006 to create the KS Code and then implement it as the driving force at Knightsbridge School London is extremely satisfying. Even more fulfilling is the knowledge that as a working document the KS Code has been carefully re‐shaped to suit the market/environment in Bogota, Istanbul and Montenegro. As a result, each school has its own make‐up and its own KS identity which every child, parent and teacher can relate to. That in itself is key to the success of the all‐round individual learning process. Arriving at the school with the incredible Maggie Lopez, one is immediately struck by the extraordinary warmth of those within the team, whether it is the welcoming committee or the individual staff. I would go so far as to say that the charisma of the individual leaders within the school, in particular the quite astonishing Gloria Sandoval, bolstered by the ‘above and beyond’ support network that has been set up by Maggie (and Gloria) is truly wonderful to behold. The hug that Maggie was given by the children in the Reception class on arrival was a delight and truly cemented the vision as well as confirming to me the importance of the right values within the human support. Dimitri Goulandris’ vision to extend the KS mantra abroad, including languages, IT, a Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme supported by the fabulously inspiring Prince Max of Liechtenstein, as well as the other extremely talented and experienced members of the KSI Board, is indeed a shrewd one, especially when they are such a good example themselves of the kind of independent product (or global citizen) that is being
developed. In Bogota, the Spanish spoken and the message conveyed by both Dimitri and Prince Max was indeed impressive and showed the very qualities that will ensure that the ethos, supported by the code is an immediate success. As in London, building on the success of an established school is not always easy but with the Hellenic College, not too dissimilar to the Colegio La Candelaria, you have a good foundation on which to inject fresh ideas and energies and to see immediate success. The high levels of performance delivered by the girls in the school in both the dancing and cheerleading performances were so exciting and the musical content showed what can be done in the right environment with high aspiration and excellent application. Overall, 6 years in, the team should be proud of the progress made in 3 very difficult areas of the world. Where will we be in another 6!?
Magoo Giles Magoo is the legendary Head of Knightsbridge School London, the founding school of the Knightsbridge Schools International ethos.
Left to Right: Magoo Giles (Knightsbridge School, London Head of School); Geoff Richardson (Columbus School, Elementary School Principal) at the school opening ceremony August 2012
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A Trip to Bogota The fruits of 6 years of vision
Challenging Adventure What it feels to be part of the KGCP
E very academic year is a new challenging adventure for us teachers. We learn more about ourselves and our colleagues and see what gems
lie deep inside us so that we can bring out our best and achieve what we long for in education. This academic year has been such a different experience for me in terms of realising my strengths and weaknesses.
In September when we started teaching, I had a lot more self ‐ confidence after the productive training sessions in August. I was able to implement the requirements of the programme better with the help of our collaborative planning sessions. Working in teams provided a great chance for us to observe each other and transfer suggestions and the different ideas which were enlightening. However, as time past I started feeling intimidated due to the limited time we had with our students and the volume of work to be done. During hectic teaching days we overlooked some of the details but helped each other to find the best options for achieving our goals. All this time, my team mates and I worked in harmony, though we had difficult days. The most difficult part for the Kocaeli team is to conduct the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) together with the local system which is rather different from the international curriculum. We can not do exactly what collaborative teaching requires as English is taught only 8‐10 hours a week, 2 periods at most a day. It is such a short amount of time in which to follow an inquiry based curriculum when English is not the students’ mother‐tongue. We usually have to teach them how to express themselves with the correct use of
language first so that they can inquire, research and reflect in English. In terms of professional development, I have found the peer observation sessions quite useful and practical. As we always need an objective point of view to improve ourselves and realise what we do well or lack, observing each other’s lessons helped me adopt a new approach and enriched my teaching methods. It is also beneficial for us to see how different age groups require different kinds of approaches. I would like to continue doing these sessions next year to learn different techniques and attitudes. Another thing that I believe we have done well this year is the students assessments of learning . We completed them in three sessions extended through the year. Once a week, Colleen and I had a period of collaborative teaching with the 4th and 7th grade classes. The results would have been better had we had the chance to spend more time with them and mentor their progress, but learning from our experience we can help them to be more fruitful next year. One of us taught the class and the other one did the guided reading and PM Benchmark readings with a group of students. Thereby, we were able to observe how students improved their reading and comprehension skills even though it was only one period a week. Throughout the year we had challenges and had our moments as a great team. When we felt overwhelmed, we got support from our leadership team and our colleagues. With their guidance and participation we were able to come up with solutions and new ideas in order to go on successfully. I hope that it will be another happy and productive academic year for every member of KGCP next year, and thank all my colleagues and the leadership team for their support and understanding.
Isil Adakli Isil is a KGCP Upper Primary teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. She has been a mem‐ber of the KGCP since it’s foundation in September 2010.
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When we felt overwhelmed, we got support from our leadership
team and our colleagues”
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T he theory… During my teacher education I felt a strong
affinity for Paulo Freire’s work The Pedagogy of the Oppressed; particularly the chapter on Education. He begins by describing the traditional teaching method (which he calls the banking method): The teacher as narrative subject and the students as patient, listening object. This method of education, “becomes an act of depositing...... Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorise, and repeat.”(p. 72)
He goes on to say how this type of education dulls and/or minimises the student’s creative power. The suggestions he offers are for the teacher/educator to “engage in critical thinking” and communication for this is the only way to achieve authentic thinking, and ultimately, humanity.
To do this, Freire argues, we must change the dichotomy of student‐teacher. In this new liberated education, “The teacher is no longer merely the‐one‐who‐teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach.” (p. 80) This style of teaching resonated with me. Here is the kind of teacher I want to be: I want to learn as much from my students as I teach them, to allow them to become independent, free thinkers who are not afraid to question and are passionate about learning, change and creating an environment where this is possible.
I was excited to accept a position at Bahcesehir‐Knightsbridge Koleji Kocaeli working in the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme; a programme that encourages this kind of inquiry, shared leadership and collaboration. The values stress enthusiasm, creativity and respect. It seemed like the ideal environment to realise the theory I was so fondly studying. I knew it would be a challenge to do this – but I was not expecting it to be quite so hard. The Challenge … I read somewhere, a quote that said: Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning. I started this year knowing I love teaching – but nervous about communicating this to my students. I was grounded in the theories of learning like Freire’s, emphasising the importance of students taking ownership of their education and inquiry, not just memorising. But, how was I to do this with my students? First of all there was a language barrier. I spoke no Turkish and the students English was at such varying levels it was often difficult to communicate to the whole class at once. The next difficulty was teaching students, who are still very much involved in the more traditional method of education (Freire’s banking method), to learn through inquiry and questioning. How was I to teach the students to inquire passionately, in a foreign language, have them discuss the topics, without reverting to their native tongue? Could I get them to take ownership of their education so they got to a point where they could ask why or how without being directed to do so? Without waiting for me to make deposits? The Practice… One astute educator noted: This word, collaborations, got me thinking. Collaboration is the very thing that we teachers are
Colleen MacFarlane Colleen teaches at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji Kocaeli in the KGCP Upper Primary years. She has just completed her first year as a member of the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme team after joining in September 2011.
Theory to Practice Reflections of a First Year Teacher
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learning to do, team teaching and planning, and problem solving together. But I also noted that this collaboration need not only be teachers‐teachers or among students and their peers but it should be a two way street between teachers and their students as well. This means we can teach our students as much as we can learn from them. I have started asking questions in class, as many as I can. Even questions like, “what do you want to learn about?” (learning is heavily linked to interest). I have
certainly learned a lot from my students. I learned about them, their interests, their specific skills, and areas of expertise. I learned a bit of the language, continually am asking them, “How do you say __ in Turkish?”. Observing their habits, values and behaviours allowed me to learn more about the culture around me. I am learning about what works for me as a teacher and what doesn’t work. I am learning how to encourage the slow shift in thought that must take place in order for our students to make the change from being receivers of knowledge to active, participating owners of their own learning. This, I believe, is vital. The students must see their teachers learning as they learn. We must be role models. Seemingly a simple concept, I am continually reminded that it is important for us as teachers to be as excited and motivated to learn if we are expecting these behaviours from our students. The best way for children to learn behaviours and attitudes is to see them continually modelled. We, as teachers are in an excellent position to model this behaviour for our students. We should be open to admitting when we do not know the answers, and eager to search for the answers with our students. I try to share my inquiries with my students and express interest in and guide them as they explore theirs. I am hopeful that this has made, at least a small impact on the way they view learning and the pursuit of knowledge. I am excited to see the students next year and continue to watch their growth and progress.
In Conclusion… As a first year teacher, I started this year knowing there was much I had to learn. I am finishing this year with the same feeling. This learning journey is one I expect to be on for the entirety of my career. It is an exciting but sometimes daunting thought that the best and perhaps the only way to become expert at teaching is to recognize that you will never have all the answers and must keep asking questions, seeking answers and interacting and collaborating with others to learn all you can. We must be open and expectant to learn from our students, our peers, our leaders and we must be excited to study with them. R
Children need to own knowledge. Constructivism is a key; children creatively use what they already know to make sense out of new situations. It is the sense of disequilibrium that can drive a child to push forward, become a risk‐taker and discover/create new understandings. Through social collaborations, observations, and experiments, each child brings a unique mix of experience and knowledge.” Elissa Viggiani, Huffington post.com
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E ach time we open our classroom door to a fresh English as an Additional Language (EAL) student, it feels like we start building a new bridge‐ a
bridge that will connect our two worlds of ideas, wonderings and learning. And that bridge is the language we will share. Laying the first bricks and stones seem to be the biggest challenge. Young learners want to share and learn so much and it is necessary to quickly find efficient ways to help them cross over. Helping our new friends find their way through the new environment is crucial in the beginning. Every situation becomes a language‐learning situation and the teacher and classmates become a valuable resource of the new language. Learning language in context is proven to be the most efficient and using body language in communication alongside with words is usually very helpful. It often happens that we mimic an action, point to an object, or actually take a child’s hand and take them to the right place, making sure that our actions are followed by the right words. Quickly, the children become more relaxed and start using creative ways to communicate what they want to say although they do not know the words yet. One of the favourite creative tools in our classroom has been drawing. Whether they want to explain the game they played in recess or what their new pet is, children love using drawings to communicate. As the time passes and new words are being learned, it is necessary to remind the learners to use the words rather than pictures as that will help them learn faster. Normally when learning a new language, a child will use their mother‐tongue with the teacher, hoping to be understood. For me, understanding the Russian language to an extent, which is the mother‐tongue of my EAL students, was of enormous help. It is much easier to provide the child with the necessary vocabulary in English when you know what they want to tell you. It helps solve many misunderstandings, though I believe it should be used with caution so that the students will not become over
reliant on their teacher’s understanding of their mother‐tongue. As the weeks go by and our learners absorb new language through many different situations and sources, they become more confident with their basic communication skills, learning about the language slowly shifts into learning through the language. While children are developing important concepts in a new language we face new challenges. How do we find out what children already understand? How do we understand their spontaneous chats in their mother‐tongue when they are obviously talking about our class topics, especially when abstract terms are in question, like friction or imagination? Understanding the key vocabulary in our learners’ mother‐tongue proved so valuable when listening to their conversations. As learners develop new understandings in English and use the new vocabulary it often becomes challenging for them to transfer this understanding into their mother‐tongue, due to the lack of vocabulary. One of the strategies that helps us a lot as we go through more advanced stages of language learning is defining challenging words and making them visual. The walls of the classroom become an ever‐growing dictionary. Through modelling and directing, children get in the habit of using the visuals to help them express themselves both in speaking and writing. Although challenging, teaching EAL learners is very rewarding. Being able to talk to students about various topics after just several months fills a teacher’s heart with pride. In most international schools, EAL students join classes regularly. Whenever a new bridge is started, looking back at those strong ones already built brings new energy into our work.
Marija Djukic Marija is a Year 1 and 2 teacher at KS Montenegro. She has been apart of the Montenegrin team since September 2010.
Teaching EAL Learners Every situation is a language learning opportunity
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W hen I graduated from teachers college 3 years ago, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to have my own class. When I began teaching at
Knightsbridge School Montenegro, I found out that there were going to be two teachers in every class, a local Montenegrin teacher and an English‐speaking teacher. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work but it sounded good to me and I didn’t really give it much thought. When I first began working with my teaching partner, it didn’t go perfectly because I was learning about who this person was and finding out about how they think and about working together and communicating. It took a while to get to know one another and to feel comfortable exchanging ideas. Our first full year
together began in September 2011. We discovered that our educational training was different. Both of us were new to the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and to inquiry, in addition to teaching all English as Second Language (ESL) students. I found one of the ways that helped me to develop a relationship with my partner was to build trust. It was an open process, which encouraged discussion and dialogue and gave us the freedom to say how we really felt about things. One of the positive aspects of collaborative leadership is the access to a wealth of information and ideas. At the end of the school day we have one hour of planning time during which we can plan and share ideas, talk and reflect about how the day went and get a different perspective on how each teacher’s day went. This is our time to share our stories and observations about what
happened during the day and then use the information to plan and to assess the students. There are some disadvantages that go with collaborative leadership as well. It can be frustrating, and there's no guarantee that two people will be able to work together which can be risky as you are working so closely every day. One of the challenges of collaborative leadership for me was the fact that it's time‐consuming. Collaboration takes time, especially at the beginning to develop a relationship and a feel for the other person. When both people are new to the PYP and inquiry, it can be difficult to get the flow of ideas going and to provide a stimulating environment for the learners. Collaborative leadership amongst all the teachers in the school has been most beneficial. The teachers come together to make decisions and implement expectations about daily life at our school; such as expectations at lunch and recess for the students. Once a week, all of the teachers participate in the professional development day. This has also led to everyone sharing ideas and knowledge to better inform their practice. I was able to take on a part of the professional development in looking at the 6 plus 1 writing traits. I find the discussion and input during professional development is very beneficial as it allows me to hear what the other teachers are doing in their classrooms and to share some new ideas about what may be working and what may not be. From my experience I have realised that collaborative leadership is a process. I really enjoy sharing ideas, stories and knowledge together with the other teachers. I also believe that two minds are better than one and to move forward, everyone must participate and the group must make decisions as a whole. Collaborative leadership encourages ownership of everyone in the school, builds trust and leads to better and more effective solutions. It can be challenging at times and it can also be very positive and rewarding.
Jennifer Dwyer Jennifer is the Kindgarten age 3 and 4 teacher at KS Montenegro. She has been a team member within the school since its launch in September 2010.
Building Trust Collaborative leadership encourages ownership of everyone in the school
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“ It was an open process, which encouraged discussion and dialogue and gave us the freedom to say how we really felt about things.”
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C an you imagine what it would look like if you tried to mix the traditional ways of Eastern Europe with fast changing, Western European
ways? Or if you mixed high and wild mountains with blue Mediterranean Sea? If you added several different nationalities, a few different religions and on top of it all, a couple of different social systems all in a short period of time? If you can’t, you can come to Knightsbridge Schools International Montenegro and see it all in a day. I have always liked to think of myself as someone who is very international minded. My background is such that it provides a wide‐open point of view to anything I encounter. It was hard to believe there was more to learn on the subject. But there was. There always is. In the summer of 2010, what happened here in Tivat (as you know) was that Knightsbridge Schools International (KSI) started a new international school and that brought many of us, different people, together. During the last two years we have learned a lot, becoming less different along the way. Some of the changes that have happened to all of us were simple and natural, while others were challenging and difficult.
“We keep learning from each other.” Most of the parents here have a vision for their child’s future, just as they had one for themselves when they were kids. Since education is always considered to be a key for the future, it is only logical that they want the best for their children. One challenge is to understand differences. Sometimes what appears to be the same goal needs to be achieved through a completely different path, especially if it’s happening in a different place and
time. Another challenge is to understand how different the world will be when these children grow up and how to get them ready. With all the new technology the world is changing faster than ever, it is completely unacceptable that education doesn’t take that into consideration. But that alone is not enough. It also takes making parents understand why the ways that were good enough for us are not good enough for our children. Parents also have to learn from the School and the School has to learn from the parents. One would think that parents who bring their children to a school like ours would already be aware of this. And they really are, they want computers and English classes for their children, but there is so much more. It is so difficult sometimes to be open‐minded, to be a global citizen, to be all the things we must teach our children to be, to prepare them for their lives, for that future that is inevitable and potentially beautiful for those who are ready for it. I believe now that only very old people are allowed to think they know all about something, and out of respect we allow them to think so, because they are old and learning might be too difficult for them. Everybody else must realise that we can only ever be happy if we learn to enjoy learning, for we will be learners all our lives. For that is the only way to avoid growing old. These last two years were certainly an incredible experience that gave me hope I will always be able to enjoy something new and exciting even if it’s from my living room chair.
Tamara Radakovic Tamara is the School Administrator at KS Montenegro and has been an integral member of the school team since it’s foundation in September 2010.
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Global Learning Collaboration with new cultures
A s a new member of the Lower Primary team, I have had a really fruitful year. At the very beginning of the year, everything I saw and I
heard was all about team planning and inquiry‐based learning. I thought I knew enough about how to plan collaboratively and how to learn by inquiring. However; as the year went on, “life‐long learning” proved itself again. Everybody in the whole team has had a spirit of sharing new ideas and helping each other. Every team member who had experience in this school provided help with explanations of the new terms that we were not familiar with, understanding the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the collaborative planning, integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into learning process, preparing the lessons and everything. I have always felt confident about what I am doing during the year thanks to my teammates and our coordinator. Every member of the whole team has known that good communication is the key to success and that we need this key mostly while planning. We have motivated ourselves to live this way in the first
place and to then experience it with the students. Of course we are collaborative not only while planning but also at every step of the units of inquiry. For instance, we had some days that we needed to cover each other’s classes and everybody knew what to do in those lessons as we had all planned together. The students have had fun and learned as well as we did. I have taught 1st graders and I have tried to make the learning environment in the classroom colourful, enjoyable, dynamic and academically rich with the help of the classroom engagements, the displays, ICT materials etc. This has also made learning more concrete for the students who could not grasp abstract thinking skills. The whole process has not been difficult to manage, because the children have been learning little pieces from life itself that they are really curious about. The most important experience I have had here in the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) Bahcesehir Schools is that when the whole team plans together and shares the responsibility of the work, it means that the success belongs to everyone and everyone is the leader of the team. Sharing the work and feeling successful leads people to appreciate the environment of collaborative leadership. I know that this academic year has been really productive and our journey is just beginning. I strongly believe that we will learn much more about inquiry and collaborative leadership in the next academic years.
Mustafa Karagol Mustafa is a KGCP teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. He works with children in Lower Primary and has been a member of the team since September 2011.
Communication is the Key When the team plans together the success belongs to everyone
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Creating their favourite house ‐ Having a general understanding of the attitudes at KGCP
I have been a member of this team for the last year and considering the growth my students and I have experienced, it has been a great year. We did our
best to make the children take at least one step forward as a team and at the same time we worked hard to improve our teaching skills. In the beginning of the year, everything was so challenging for me. It was a totally new system of teaching English and I didn’t know much about it. My mind was full of questions and there were a number of terms I had just heard. Considering all of these difficulties, one might think that it was a hard or uncomfortable environment for a new teacher; however, this was not the case. Everyone was so eager to help each other. I clearly understood the importance of sharing and helping and feeling free to ask questions because that is the nature of collaborative leadership. Team planning sessions were another challenging process for me in the beginning. I couldn’t be creative enough to contribute to the team because it was all new to me. However, I overcame these difficulties with the
endless support of my peers. We worked collaboratively and planned the units. Having a positive group of people working on the same topic and willing to share all ideas without hesitation is one of the most motivating experiences you can ever have in a workplace. With the help of this motivation, you feel more dedicated to inquire and question. The more you inquire, the more you learn and improve and so the endless journey of teacher as learner begins. We also had many professional inquiry sessions, which were absolutely fruitful. The sessions we had in the beginning of the year and the ones we had during the year were so helpful that without them I would not have become familiar with all the terminology. Those were all vitally important experiences for a teacher who was trying to improve himself pedagogically. When deciding to work for a school, a teacher considers many things and professional development opportunities are of paramount importance while making this decision. All in all, working in an environment like this and observing how necessary collaborative leadership and professional inquiry are has helped me to become a much more beneficial member of this organisation.
Orcun Baris Orcun is a KGCP Upper Primary teacher at Bahçeşehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. He joined the KGCP team in August 2011.
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This photo was taken during Professional Inquiry period in the beginning of the year. We, as UP team, were asked to prepare an informative presentation about a place which was interesting to us and see how the inquiry process should be by experiencing
Team Planning Collaborative leadership in our school
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I t is very important for everybody in our School to keep learning so we can improve our School but also our spirit. In collaboration with the teachers, I tried to find out what they needed for their classes and I have learned how to make these items from existing materials. Our school is housed in an old hotel and I take apart closets,
doors and fixtures to create my projects. I have learned to create new pieces by seeing and reflecting on the ideas and pictures teachers showed me. Here are some examples of the things I have done for the school:
Old is New Again Our school is housed in an old hotel and I take apart closets, doors and fixtures to create my projects
Aleksandar Perovic Aleksandar works at KS Montenegro as the Security and School Caretaker. He has been a member of the school team since September 2010.
Kinder classrooms with radiators that are no longer in use; covered to make shelves.
How to make space more useful with bookshelves and a corner printer table
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A closet and shelves became the infirmary bed.
The year 1 & 2 class wanted a small cabinet and shelf next to the sink for the water jug and glasses.
Some wooden beams were used to make a bench around tree in front of the school.
A small room on the third floor needed shelves.
Corners are used to build narrow shelves and a space in the wall is filled with shelves and paint drying racks.
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Serpil Cerniski Serpil is a KGCP Lower Primary teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. She has worked with the team since September 2010.
A s a teacher I would like to say that I have learned a lot during the last two years in the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme
(KGCP) and gained different teaching experiences with the lower primary learners. This year I focused on concept teaching because we are teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students and I made some useful notes for my teaching career. When you teach English language learners, it can be a bit challenging to teach them how to inquire in another language that they have just started to learn and when you have only 10 periods a week. This year, we have focused on that issue and discussed it in our team meetings. We have identified helpful structures and vocabulary by increasing the challenge and language level step by step according to Lower Primary grades. It is always very important to use the correct language when you teach LP kids because at this age, the kids can lose interest very easily when you are not able to draw their attention. They need to understand what you are talking about and also be able to express themselves when they are in need. If the teacher cannot create that atmosphere in the classroom, learners get bored easily and give up following the teacher’s instructions. I have seen that when you really set your language goals well and appropriately enough for the age group that you have been teaching, the kids start to show amazing progress. For example, in our first unit we talked about different types of homes and the kids compared two different bedrooms in two different countries by using a VENN diagram as their summative assessment. Before we had
started doing the s u m m a t i v e assessment, we prepared different i nqu i r y based engagements about types of homes and we always used, “there is/there are, there is/are …..in … . . b u t t h e r e isn’t..in..” thereby i n c l ud in g t h e vocabulary that we had been teaching as well. We also practiced the structure and vocabulary orally by doing group discussions in the classroom which helped the students to really participate and share. Whether they are natives or not, I think concept teaching is something everyone teaching this age group needs to focus on. Concept teaching is a great method that really works and helps kids keep the information they have learned in their long term‐memory because it is not just reading, listening or copying the things that the teacher writes on the board; it is also seeing, discovering and matching the information with their real life experiences. We should also remember that Lower Primary students, as all teachers know, need to be taught by using audio‐visual materials and kinaesthetic activities which are fun but also informative. I have also observed that students, in their daily lives, have started to use checklists and other things that they have learned in class. Last year, one of the third graders showed me a venn diagram that he prepared to compare his thoughts about two different subjects and he had also prepared a checklist for the venn diagram. I also hear from the parents that the kids remember things that they have learned in the classroom while they are
Teachers as Learners In teaching others we teach ourselves
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watching a documentary or when they visit a historical place abroad. They even correct their parents behaviour according to the rules that we have identified as a whole class such as remembering to listen to each other respectfully. I can say that I have learnt a lot while teaching and I still have a lot to learn. As one of the proverbs says, “In teaching others we teach ourselves.” This is one of the advantages of being a KGCP teacher. You always go on your own learning journey while teaching. R Students are building their strong bridge in groups of three through an online
game. They are supposed to share ideas, respect each other and take turns
Students are presenting their portfolios to each other
Each student has a picture of a public place and they tie the ones that are related by using a rope to show the connections and after they are finished connecting, they explain their reasons orally
Students are reading a book about super structures
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COLLABORATI VE
T his year, we were fish climbing trees, but of our own will, we adapted and grew legs. To say that my experience with Bahcesheir ‐
Knightsbridge School was quite the experience would be a gross understatement. The idea of collaborative leadership in the classroom is a concept which I was not familiar with previous to my employment with the KGCP. My teaching partner, Nazli Acici, and I created the materials and the curriculum, learned a lot about our students, our own abilities as well as interacting professionally in this team setting with each other. There was quite a long process of figuring out for ourselves the methods of team teaching. But figure it out, we did; we negotiated different roles for ourselves, and changed them up as often as we could. We tried to be on the same page in terms of our planning and in terms of our lesson delivery. Part of our success was due to the style of teaching; a process of inquiry. This style promotes self‐understanding and learning, reflection and creation. It is challenging to have an English mother‐tongue teacher and a bi‐lingual teacher because it seems as though there are roles perscribed to the team already, which sometimes are not as effective; our success was to re‐define
our roles and be co‐leaders in the classroom. We rose to the challenge of different priorities, academic and cultural backgrounds, ideas, beliefs and cultural/linguistic mis‐interpretations. The ideology of KSI and myself is to reflect, observe and challenge our conceptions/perceptions and ideas of our world. In order to be effective leaders in our classrooms – whether or not it employs collaborative leadership – we must strive to teach our students to be independent and critical thinkers. I leave you with this quote that appears to summarise what KSI embodies: “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Robyn‐Michelle LeRoux Robyn‐Michelle is a Lower Primary teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli and joined the school team in October 2011.
“ Everyone’s a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
Climbing Trees Collaborative Leadership in the Classroom
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Inquiry Learning Inquiry based learning for teachers and students
T his was my first year in Bahcesehir Knightsbridge schools. I was so excited. I was so curious about what I would see and learn here. And the first
two words that I mostly heard here were “team” and “inquiry.” As time passed, I certainly understood and accepted that I was a member of the Lower Primary team. That meant that we were going to work together as a team, share the resources, responsibilities and finally at the end of each term we were going to share our academic success. I was so lucky because everyone in my team knew that none of us could succeed without
the others. So we all worked collaboratively, we helped each other, tried to motivate and encourage and most importantly we all tried to cover each other’s defects. In my opinion, as a team we really did a good job. And this collaboration during the academic year really helped me grow academically and personally.
With my team this year, we did a lot of inquiry‐based activities. Of course in the beginning I didn’t know much about inquiry. I prepared lots of lesson materials but then I realised some of them were not inquiry based. But with the help of our coordinator and team friends I basically started to understand that, “Inquiry based learning is not learning about something but learning something.” Knowing this, I began to create a more inquiry‐based classroom, my materials changed into inquiry activities and my students started to ask, search and inquire more and more every day. They learned from real life experiences not just from the
picture books. For example in our third unit of inquiry, they were learning about building materials and with the help of my friends, I picked up some materials from outside of the school and I brought them in to the class. It was worth seeing the students’ excitement and curiosity. They all touched and felt these materials. Now they were able to understand what our unit of inquiry was: “The design of buildings and structures is dependent upon the environment and available materials.” They were able to make more comments on it and ask questions. That made me really happy. After that they brought me real newspaper articles related to our unit and they wanted to search for interesting structures on the Internet. They were very eager and happy.
And finally, it is the end of the year and they know how to inquire and they are also good at collaborative workmanship.
Inquiry based learning is not learning about something but learning something.”
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Ebru Bahadir Ebru is a Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. She works with children in Lower Primary.
The Students are presenting their homework about a natural disaster that happened in Turkey
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T his year has been as busy as the previous year. We have been applying Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) for two years
now. As we all know, our vision is to educate a community of global citizens by providing them with opportunities to be all they can be. One of the opportunities they have been provided with this year was a Cultural and Language Immersion Trip to London. Eight students attended the programme with our Head of School, Mahmut Kalcı, and myself. The aim of the trip was to give the students the opportunity to improve their English language skills while interacting with their peers at Knightsbridge School London as well as exploring some of the most popular sites in London such as the London Eye, the Tower of London, Natural History Museum, Buckingham Palace, Imperial War Museum and Tate Modern Art Gallery. They also had language lessons related to the trips with Mrs Fleur Primavera who was also the organiser of the trip. Mrs. Fleur prepared and planned the language lessons based on the unit of inquiry “How We Express Ourselves”. Since they were accustomed to the programme, our students were really successful in participating and expressing themselves during the activities. Mrs. Fleur was so sensitive and tactful in the way she cared about how each trip, lesson or activity would affect the students even before she met them. She also demonstrated a great deal of collaboration both with the students and teachers all throughout the programme. The trip was 13 days long. The first couple of days were a bit hard for our students. From time to time some of them got homesick, too. But in the end, they were very happy to get to know Mrs Fleur Primavera, to be able to participate in Music, Art and Sports lessons at the Knightsbridge School and to experience such a wide v a r i e t y o f a c t i v i t i e s .
We hope that these kinds of interactions will continue in the coming years since all of these experiences help and encourage our students to become active and lifelong learners who understand other people’s differences and thus guides them to be more internationally minded.
KGCP Cultural and Language exchange Adventures in London
Belen Bas Belen Bas is a teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli in the KGCP. She teaches children in the Upper Primary and has been a member of the team since September 2010.
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Mr. Mahmut Kalci (Head of Knightsbridge ‐ Bahcesehir College) and Belen Bas ( English Teacher) and the students enjoying as Art Class at Knightsbridge School in London where they developed their language skills, artistic skills and socialised with KS students
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T he Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a transdisciplinary curriculum in which the planning for teaching and learning through units
of inquiry ‘transcends’ the traditional disciplines. Making this happen requires collaborative planning, on‐going formative assessment and doing the necessary research to ensure the depth and breadth of student inquiry. Planning aims to involve learners in constructing new understandings using new knowledge gained from exploring the central idea, the transdisciplinary theme, the concepts and skills, as well as attitudes and taking appropriate and related action as a result of learning. In order for a unit of inquiry to be significant, engaging, relevant and challenging, these elements must be addressed throughout the unit. As PYP teachers we are compelled to find ways to engage students in transdisciplinary learning experiences. In a workshop with educators new to the PYP, workshop leaders highlighted the importance of this. We posted a sample unit of inquiry, highlighting the concepts as the lens through which to plan for student learning.
Central idea: All living things go through a process of change. Key concepts: change, connection Related concepts: cycles, transformation Lines of inquiry: Life cycles How living things change over their life
time Developmental stages of various living
things
Teachers were tasked to work in collaborative groups and to brainstorm the initial planning of the unit. They were equipped with scope and sequence documents, library and internet access, sample planners and classroom resources brought to the workshop. For the most part, teachers discussed the disciplinary knowledge related to the unit and were quick to see the links between the concepts change and cycle and the line of inquiry, life cycles. Scientific facts were listed by all groups. It was however, much more challenging to highlight the links to mathematics, language, the arts, social studies, or personal, social and physical education. To further provoke thinking about the unit, some pinecones were passed to each of the tables. It was pointed out that pinecones were male or female, a fact unknown to most in the room. A pinecone is also a simple entry point to understanding the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical pattern found in nature. Our ability to fully address a central idea can be limited by our knowledge and understandings related to the central idea and is vitally dependent upon our personal inquiries and wonderings as learners. The pinecone was
Constructing Meaning More than making connections
Corine van den Wildenberg Ms Corine is the School Director of KS Montenegro. She has 25 years of shared and collaborative leadership style, learners and teachers will be provided with enriching opportunities that inspire them to “be all they can be.”
Children in the Kindergarten engaged in story time
Be all you can be
Global Citizen Keep smiling
Inquirer KS Code
Caring
a prompt for thinking; it was meant to address the point that as teachers, we need to be inquirers, to research a unit ourselves in order to be fully prepared for planning and teaching. Teacher preparedness and thoughtful planning help to ensure that a unit of inquiry meets the expectations of being significant, engaging, relevant and challenging. Figure 2 on page 2 of the document The Primary Years Programme as a model of transdisciplinary learning (IB, 2010), illustrates the transdisciplinary aspects of the PYP: the programme of inquiry, the key concepts, the transdisciplinary skills, attitudes and action as essential elements to learning in a transdisciplinary curriculum. Knowledge, skills and concepts from the subject areas circle these elements and provide the new information that help learners to construct new understandings. With this illustration in mind, and starting with the concepts and transdisciplinary skills, the unit planning by workshop participants began to flourish. Teachers were asked to identify what was significant and relevant, to indicate how l earn ing might be challenging and engaging? The new perspective on planning for teaching and learning provoked some new thinking. Teachers were engaged in the collaborative planning using knowledge and skills from the subject areas, to address the questions raised as a result of the concepts, central idea and the lines of inquiry and the descriptor for the transdisciplinary theme. With access to the Internet and some new driving questions, groups soon discovered that the Fibonacci sequence in nature aligned with the life cycles of plants and animals, that his numerical sequence formed a spiral, that spirals could be explored through the arts as well as mathematics. The conversations lead to how understanding patterns in mathematics could support understanding patterns in nature, linking to the concepts of cycles and connections.
The learning amongst the teachers stimulated authentic questioning and wondering. These were recorded on the planners. Ideas were free flowing and some groups began to highlight the links between the traditional subject area knowledge and skills to possible student inquiries that could lead to significant summative assessments. Over the course of the workshop, teachers strengthened their understandings of the interconnectedness of the subject areas and how they support transdisciplinary learning. In exploring the big ideas themselves and researching their own ideas, they were lead to see the variety of possible student inquiries that would meet the expectations of being significant, engaging, relevant and challenging. To highlight the importance of such thinking, we asked teachers to imagine a shopping trip that included estimating total costs, sales prices, taxes, of choosing
between locally produced or imported goods in the market, of picking
up a parcel or dry cleaning, or reading labels of goods to be purchased. In reflecting on this regularly occurring event in our lives, we can see how reliant we are upon the knowledge and skills from the subject areas as well as the transdisciplinary concepts and skills. We c a n a p p l y o u r understandings to other shopping experiences more successfully when we u n d e r s t a n d t h e interconnectedness of the
concepts and skills.
The IB learner profile challenges us as learners to think, to inquire and to communicate. As teachers committed to the pedagogy and philosophy of the PYP, we are emboldened to model this through our own learning and in our planning for significant, engaging, relevant and challenging teaching and learning that is transdisciplinary.
Reflective
Risk‐takers
Open‐minded Thinkers Balanced Knowledgeable
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B etween the 22nd January and 3rd February 2012 Knightsbridge Schools International took its first pioneering step in beginning the development of
the KS Camp Language & Cultural Immersion Programmes. Students from grades 7, 8 and 9 from Bahcesehir‐Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli travelled from Turkey with their teacher Belen Bas from the KGCP Upper Primary and their Head of School Mahmut Kalci. This was my first KS Camp project so I met the students and teachers at Heathrow Airport full of anticipation and nerves but confident that the programme we had designed would give the children fantastic opportunities to meet their peers at Knightsbridge School in London, develop their feeling of belonging to the KSI family, give them a fun and culturally inspiring view of London and the United Kingdom as well as encourage them to develop their English language skills. The trip was a huge success despite the numerous challenges along the way and I was extremely sad to see the students, Belen and Mahmut go home. The experience taught me so much and left an enduring
imprint on me. I felt a huge amount of professional growth in myself through the use of “collaborative leadership” within the organisation and implementation of the exchange programme. However, before I delve into the main focus of my article I would like to give a summary of the exchange programmes aims and activities for those who are unfamiliar with the programme. The aim of the KGCP Winter Language and Cultural Immersion Trip to London was to give students from Bahcesehir‐Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli the opportunity to improve their English language skills whilst interacting with students and staff at Knightsbridge School and immersing themselves in London culture. Students stayed at the Royal National Hotel in Russell Square and travelled around London on the London Underground system to the various sightseeing and lesson locations. During their time in London students visited the Natural History Museum, Tate Modern Art Gallery, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Sea Life Centre, The British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Oxford Street, Hamley’s Toy Store, Harrods, went bowling, went to see Wicked the Musical, went on a Big Bus Tour and much more! They took part in several lessons at Knightsbridge in London including Sport, Art and Music; they participated in a whole school and lower school assembly each in turn introducing themselves in front of the whole school and spent time with the Knightsbridge School London children during lunch times and after school activities. As well as the sightseeing and activities at Knightsbridge School in London they had dedicated English Language lessons which were aimed at supporting specific language development relating to topics surrounding the sites we were going to see. The Turkish children had a very good level of English and the vocabulary in the
Fleur Primavera Fleur is the KS Camp and Exchange Programme Coordinator for Knightsbridge Schools International beginning her role in the position in November 2011.
Below: Students are met by Mr Magoo (Head of Knightsbridge School in London) before they meet some of their KS peers and have a tour of the school
Knightsbridge Pioneers Building of international relationships and teams
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lessons was based around words such as Palaeontology in readiness for our visit to the Natural History Museum. I differentiated the lessons to support the varied age group, language level and general ability of the students with the aim that the lessons were interesting and inclusive for all. The curriculum of the language lessons was based upon the unit of inquiry for the trip “How we express ourselves”. Throughout the trip and language lessons we focused the students’ learning around how we express ourselves through a variety of topics from a cultural, traditional and global perspective. Each lesson would be based around a certain aspect of expression e.g. a visit to
the Tower of London looked at English historical events through time and how the way we express ourselves through tradition and ceremonies has changed. We compared it to other cultures including their own. We also looked into how the way we can express our political and moral beliefs has changed over time e.g. Many were beheaded in the tower of London in the 15th Century for disagreeing with the King’s religious or political views but today we live in a diplomatic and open society where expressing our beliefs is respected. The activities during the exchange were based around preparing or reviewing sights in London we had visited and developing their own inquiry. We used ICT in lessons and a number of arts and crafts to break up the written work. Children often worked in groups, created presentations and debates. I felt that by the end of the exchange the student’s English language had significantly improved as the students gained more confidence in expressing themselves and immersing themselves in English culture. As you can see from the varied and full programme the students participated in, the programme would not have gone ahead without the collaboration and joint dedication of the team at Knightsbridge School London, Bahcesehir – Knightsbridge Kocaeli, KSI Head office and the numerous third party providers. However, from my point of view in my new role as KS Camp and Exchange
Programmes Coordinator, the collaborative leadership which takes place throughout KSI empowered me to “be all I can be” and make the programme a success. Collaborative leadership can often be seen as the building of a heterogeneous team with a shared purpose. This style of management allowed me to take the KS Camp and exchange programme concept and run with it. I was empowered to make my own decisions, discuss concerns and solve problems in a supportive and inclusive environment. The entire team involved in organising the exchange programme were focused on the common goal we had which was to ensure the students were safe and were able to participate fully within a dynamic and exciting programme. The core KSI team involved in making the exchange programme happen were Maggie Lopez as the lead overseer, myself; Gamze Unay, Hicran Turan, Belen Bas, Mahmut Kalci and Olcay Tanhan at Kocaeli School; and Magoo Giles, Olivia Burton, Henny Taylor and the teaching staff at Knightsbridge School London. By working together to organise and create the programme they supported me to fulfil my full potential within the role as KS Camp & exchange programmes coordinator. For instance I have a short teaching background in the British National Curriculum where I qualified as a Secondary Science Teacher. Designing the curriculum for the language lessons was at first daunting as it was my first attempt at teaching and planning within the IB pedagogy. However, Maggie shared with me the units of inquiry from the KGCP Upper Primary and taught me how to use the Atlas C u r r i c u l u m M a p p i n g software we use across the network to collaboratively
People learn to lead because they care about something.” “
Right: Students immersed themselves in British
culture and had fun whilst shopping in Oxford Street.
Here Bengisu shows her enthusiasm for the city of
London!
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generate our curriculum and introduced me to Belen Bas at Kocaeli School. Together we worked through the teaching and learning concepts, examples of lessons and units of inquiry and I found I was able to begin my curriculum planning. By sharing documentation, discussing my ideas and draft lesson plans I was able to receive feedback and praise for my work. This gave me confidence to develop the language lesson curriculum into more diverse topics and use more teaching and learning tools within them to create a good teaching and assessment course for the exchange programme language lessons. Throughout the programme Belen supported me during the language lessons and we frequently co‐taught the programme. Maggie worked to safeguard the process of creating the curriculum, facilitated my interactions with the KGCP team and enabled me to use my full potential through
the mutual support of my peers at Kocaeli School. This web of interpersonal connections across the KSI community in planning the exchange programme meant I had the freedom to achieve the goals of the programme and power to make key decisions. Collaborative leadership is not only a management style I enjoy working within it is also something which I enjoy developing as a quality within myself. The role of leader can take many different styles and the authoritarian leadership style would never have suited my own values and ethos. Key qualities of a collaborative leader which I feel I grew within myself during my role as exchange programme coordinator was to listen carefully, be willing to take risks, share my knowledge, power and credit but most importantly have a passion for the cause. Charlotte bunch said, “People learn to lead because they care about something”. I feel that this comment is true of my own feelings of leadership. I grew in confidence and strength as a “leader” through leading the exchange programme. The students depended on me and their teachers to keep them safe, ensure they had a fulfilling and rewarding experience and that the entire programme was impeccably organised. I truly cared and felt accountable for the enjoyment and safety of my group of pioneers from Turkey but also that Knightsbridge School in London was not turned upside down by our arrival in their school. I feel overall the exchange programme was a great success but I could not have achieved this without the collaboration with my peers and the experience, compassion and knowledge they shared with me throughout the planning and implementation of the programme. It was not only my colleagues that I worked collaboratively with during the exchange programme. My group of 8 students, Belen, Mahmut and I were our own collaborative team. I quickly learnt that with my group of teenagers on the exchange programme that the behaviour management technique of “do as I say because I told you” was not going to work. Mahmut and Belen gave me the confidence to empower the students to lead collaboratively with us in the activities we participated in and the way in which they explored the sights we visited. To give some context, during one of our first outings together we visited the Tate Modern Gallery and I decided that we should keep the students all together as one group. I set the rule that I or one of the other teachers should be able to see them at all times. This did not work well with my group of students and I was bombarded with moans of how boring the gallery was and panic of missing children. It all turned out well in the end with us all coming back together but the students received an extremely stern telling off from
Above: The KS Camp & Exchange students visit The Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, to learn about British involvement in the II World War & the history of the Holocaust. They explored exhibits to learn how beliefs can harm others and how we now live in a more excepting world Below: Students visit the British Museum to view archaeological finds from ancient Egypt to learn how they way we express religious and cultural beliefs has changed over the millennia
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Mahmut for disobeying my rules. The following day Mahmut suggested I use another technique for managing the children’s movement around the sights and that was the use of check points. Mahmut, Belen, the students and I sat together at the entrance of the Natural History Museum and discussed how they would explore the various galleries. Together we collaboratively agreed where the check points would be, where we would meet, who would be exploring the museum with who, what activities they must complete and what expectations we had of their conduct around the museum. So off they went to explore for 45 minutes on their own, out of my sight! As Belen and I roamed the museum ourselves viewing the exhibits we frequently came across a pair of our students enthusiastically taking pictures of objects and displays and asking questions. And perfectly on time we met all the students at the first
check point to find them perfectly safe and enjoying the museum greatly. I learnt that collaborative leadership with the students improved their behaviour and learning by making them feel accountable for their wellbeing and education and also created a shared goal of making the trip a success as our own family of explorers. I found that by sharing my concerns and excitements with the students we developed a mutually caring relationship. They noticed if I was tired lugging their lesson resources around the underground system and always offered to carry my bags for me. They were always ready to offer me chocolate and show me fun photographs. They worked with me to check that everyone made it on to the busy tubes and were crossing the road safely working as leaders within our group. Overall I feel that a culture of collaboration as found within Knightsbridge Schools International enables individuals to achieve their best and better fulfil the missions and vision of our organisation. The enduring partnerships we have facilitated through the implementation of the KS Camp and Exchange Programmes has meant that the KSI community will only grow in its number and depth of connections. By working collaboratively and sharing our experiences we are better able to develop our own knowledge and ability to work as a global organisation which supports our local school communities. I greatly look forward to the next KS Camp programme where we take the children from Colombia and Turkey to London for a two week cultural and language immersion trip to further strengthen our KSI family. R
Above: Students and staff develop their friendships during an evening of Bowl‐ing, Ice Skating and Fun at Queensway bowling alley Below: Students learn about English culture and the Royal Family by building the current days Royal Family Tree in groups
COMING SOON! Summer 2013
Soon KSI will announce the formal dates and schedule for the next KS Camp Cultural and Language Immersion exchange to London in the Summer of 2012 for students age 11‐14 from
KSI‐Colegio La Candelaria and Bahcesehir‐Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli.
For more information talk to your form teacher or contact Fleur Primavera at
f.primavera@knightsbridgeschools.com
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Joy of Cooking A new horizon in extracurricular activities
T he inspiration for our club dates back to the administrator’s question, ‘What sort of club would you like to run this year?’ The idea came to
us because we both adore cooking. We raised our hands and announced that we would like to establish a cooking club. We gave a small presentation in the conference hall, and the students became very excited by the idea of participating. There were 24 applications but sadly only 6 students could to be chosen for the club. The club’s main goal was to create a chart of world cuisine. We gathered global recipes; read various food blogs and studied online food magazines to learn about the most prominent figures of the culinary world. These steps kept our archive of recipes growing and evolving all year long. In the teacher’s lounge we also aimed to embrace global cuisine. Every two weeks, we invited a teacher from overseas to share her favourite dish with our club. The club began with Italian Cuisine: Tiramisu! We familiarised our students with mascarpone cheese, almond extract and cacao gourmet. The following weeks featured other famous dishes: Beef Stragonoff, Shepherd’s Pie, Gingerbread Cookie Men, Blueberry Muffins, Rainbow Muffins, Warm Cinnamon Rolls, Brushetta, Chinese Dumplings, Chinese Spring Rolls,
Butterfly Shrimps, and Crème Brûlée. Apart from traditional fare, there were recipes from our own teachers, too. The harmony of citron dressing with fresh salmon was a groundbreaking combination for those who have an appetite for fish. We explored dough, meat, vegetables and fruits in order to teach the students different techniques: kneading, dicing, slicing, zesting, mashing and so on. After learning chopping techniques they learned cooking techniques such as: bain‐marie, caramelising, simmering and torching. With the club’s popularity rising and school’s continued support, we decided that a good way to motivate the students would be to take the club to the next level. A Pasta Competititon took place with the students participation in 3 groups. After the students presented their own recipes in a very challenging competition, they recieved their 1st, 2nd and 3rd rank medals. This motivational experiment has given rise to a new tradition: The Yearly Pasta Competition. A tasting event was held to share the Cooking Club members’ dishes with other club members and administrators. The more smiles we put on people’s faces, the more joy we got out of cooking! And all of the work was displayed in a mini gallery on our club’s billboard. As a final touch, an academic field trip was arranged to the Yeditepe Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Department. In a meeting lead by the head of the department, our members had the opportunity to ask questions about their university and career dreams. We would like to thank the department for their hospitality in opening their cooking lab to us and creating such an inviting atmosphere.
Yasemin Usta & Tugce Sert Yasemin & Tugce are both KGCP High School teachers at the Bahcesehir‐Knightsbridge College. Both teachers have experienced the joy of working with their students in their cooking club.
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T his year we started with after school activities and I was coordinator. At first, I thought that it would be easy but as we started, I realised that there was
a lot more to plan and think about and that made it challenging. Thanks to the support from others, it became much easier. After school activity is very important for children’s development, physically, mentally and socially. However this is not the focus of my reflection. I will tell you what I experienced during the two sessions. You know that look of wonder that little babies have when they are like sponges absorbing everything that they see or hear, when they are so innocent, accepting everything around them with enthusiasm and pleasure? That is the look I saw in our children’s eyes every time we started to do something new and different. There were smiles of joy and happiness on their faces. They were soaking up every little thing that teachers and instructors were presenting to them. They were surprised at how fun learning could be. I remember when they tried to figure out how a balloon can pass into a bottle, I remember the first rocket that they launched and balloon that they made explode as well as the first game of cards and the first logical tasks that they found so interesting that they couldn’t wait until the next lesson. It is difficult to describe the mix of happiness and impatience when they were making their first cake. It didn’t look perfect and they didn’t care because it was so delicious. I also remember the paint on their faces and the moment when they were pretending that they were someone else. I felt their tears of frustration because they couldn’t stay or their joy while they were preparing to go outside with their teachers and best friends to play rugby. They were feeling like a real rugby team even if there were only a few members. I felt their thrill before every obstacle course that they were doing with their teacher in a gymnastic class. I will never forget how proud they felt when making an art piece or a
thank you card for their mothers. All the work that they showed to everyone was presented as if it was the biggest, latest masterpiece. I am grateful for all these moments experienced, because there is nothing that can motivate you like a child’s smile and shared happiness. Thank you to everyone for your support and I look forward to building a larger programme next year.
Martina Dujmusic Martina is the School Nurse and Extra‐Curricular Activities Coordinator at KS Montenegro. She has been working with the school since its inception is September 2010.
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A Child’s Smile After school activity is very important for children’s development, physically, mentally and socially
Miss Nadja with KS Montenegro students after face painting after school activity
The students learn Yoga after school where they can develop their flexibility and inner calm
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W orking as a teacher in Knightsbridge School Montenegro has been both rewarding and challenging. Even though I had been working
with children for over 5 years before I started working with Knightsbridge, my confidence was shaken. This was a completely different approach to teaching children compared to what I was used to in a local public preschool. Another reason for this was that none of the children in my class had English as their native language. I know that children are like play‐dough in our hands, and they will take in all that we offer them as we guide them through learning, but the big question was: Where to start? Talking to other teachers and reading different articles gave me an idea to start talking to them as though they understand everything and not to use any other language in the classroom but English. Repetition and immersion seemed to be the best way. Everyday situations helped them to learn basic sentences in English that they needed in their everyday life. It’s really amazing how fast they grow; from “blue balloon”‐ the only words used for few days quickly develops into “Did you eat a lot of red cupcakes and then creations such as “redalishes” (one of my oldest students asked me when I coloured my hair). Teaching children math‐which is everywhere, is also teaching them English at the same time. Playing “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” game on the Smartboard, “Do you have” game and “Sorry” game with different kind of dice helped my students to learn their numbers, to name items, and even to put things in order from smallest to biggest and vice versa. “10 little fingers” song also helped them to learn their numbers and in the same time, to learn the parts of the body. And that’s how they started to build their vocabulary. “Colouring with Spot” game on smart board and “Do you
have” game‐this time with colours, and matching each colour with different things through the school helped them learn their primary colours at the beginning, and secondary colours later. When they knew their colours, it was easy to start teaching them to identify and build a pattern. Using square tiles of different colours helped them to make a two‐step pattern and then even their own pattern, of 3 or 4 steps. Soon they started to see the pattern around them too. The best thing about this age group is that they learn
best while they are playing. Even while playing “Musical chairs” they learned so many songs, playing “Bowling” game my kids had fun but at the same time they start learning about adding and subtracting. I have started to see teaching as more than planning activities. I have come to realise that I plan for the end in mind. What should be the next step in their learning and what can we do to engage them in this? This is how teaching at Knightsbridge has been for me.
Nadja Zivkovic Nadja is a teacher at KS Montenegro with children in Kindergarten age 3 and 4. She has been a member of the school team since the it’s launch in September 2010.
Teaching children math‐which is everywhere, is also teaching them English at the same time.”
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ESL Learners I plan for the end in mind
Be all you can be
Global Citizen Keep smiling
Inquirer KS Code
Caring
Inspiring Young Minds Working in the heart of curiosity
T he day I started working for the Knightsbridge Global Citizenship Programme (KGCP) feels like only yesterday. However, when I start thinking
about what has changed during my time here, I start to realize how long the list is. The experiences coming from English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching is totally different from what I experienced in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and inquiry based learning setting. Our inquiry journey started when we met with our new international colleagues at a very nice dinner before we started the academic year. Even at that time, I felt the excitement of becoming a real Global Citizen. When we started the academic year, the atmosphere at the school started changing right away. We, the local English teachers, started to speak a lot of English, began to learn about other cultures and to immerse our students in a natural English speaking environment. We came up with different clubs and activities to support our students learning and we prepared displays to make the learning visual. As I mentioned earlier, a great many things have changed; the way the parents see the programme, the way we communicate with each other and with the parents, the way the students understand the programme, etc. However, the most important thing here is that the students changed their way of thinking and improved their researching skills. With the help of this programme, they learned to be curious; not only to ask questions but to ask qualified questions. All we, as teachers, needed to do was to think about ways to stimulate their curiousity about our unit of inquiry. If you are working with young and very young learners you are in the heart of curiosity. The imagination of Kindergarteners always inspires me. They are honest and they don’t feel pressure when expressing their ideas. If
you know how to attract them, they are always ready to bring more questions in and that is what all inquiry is about. This reminds me of the quote by Arnold Edinborough which expresses the importance of curiosity in education, “Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.” I am still at the beginning level of understanding and applying PYP as it is a never ending journey, but from what I have learned, the biggest role of the teacher is to create the right atmosphere for the students (which is visual and wondering) and giving them a chance to explore instead of serving all the information and leaving the “fill in the blanks” homework for the students. Even though my journey finishes here in Kocaeli this year, I will never forget the experience or the beautiful staff who helped me to become a “confident cat” in my career. I would like to finish my article with another quote, this one from Albert Einstein, which should be the philosophy of any student at this programme:
Nazli Acıcı Nazli is a teacher at Bahcesehir ‐ Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli in the KGCP team. She teaches children in the Bilingual Kindergarten Programme.
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Reflective
Risk‐takers
Open‐minded Thinkers Balanced Knowledgeable
“ Learn from Yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.... Do not stop questioning.”
Making a Difference We learn best when we learn together
T ry to recall your c h i l d h o o d classroom. Think
about the first things you remember; the light that spreads out in the room, the smell, your teacher..… How long has it been since you sat at a desk in a classroom? Try to remember the walls, what was displayed on them and
how it was displayed, the books on the shelves, how your teacher used the board, strategies that helped you to learn... When I was in school I didn’t really contemplate strategies, I mostly thought that things were fine as they were. Later on, when I started the journey to being a teacher and the guiding mechanism in the classroom, I started to wonder how best to make a difference in the classroom. I questioned what strategies would work best with today’s students and this is basically the starting point for reflective teaching. After a productive two‐week professional development session, this year began as busily as ever. All the great ideas we had during the workshops made us think that we were ready and everything would go on just as planned. But then when we actually entered the classroom, the reality was very different and that was exactly the moment that I, once again, became aware of what it means to teach such young learners. It can be difficult to understand them, be responsive to their needs not only as students but also as an individual and especially as a little child, all while making them understand slightly abstract concepts. So for this year, my inquiries mostly grew around how I
could be more beneficial to this age group and essentially the question became: how could I make them aware of the bigger picture that we were trying to show them? I began to make sense of how and why it is difficult for them to explain themselves and conduct certain activities due to a lack of required skills and information. I tried to follow their hints about how they think and understand concepts and I used this knowledge to work with them in searching for answers. Extensive reading and exploration into the nature of this age group gave me insight into how I could make the connection between theory and practice in the classroom. It made me comprehend how I could better inspire and stimulate the students and what I should expect from them; of course it was also important not to lose the overview while searching for answers and trying out new things. And because we sometimes believe that the things we learn about children apply only to them, we often forget the adage, “We learn best, when we learn together” which is as true for adults as it is for children. So in this context, another great support was the regular collaborative planning sessions with my team members. We had a chance to exchange ideas and reflect on what worked well and what should be improved and so, we had the opportunity to study further our inquiries as a team. Trying to teach the children the larger meaning and function of everything we do in and out of the classroom was the hardest part of this academic year. Some workshops during the (ELT) conferences, which we attended with a colleague, gave me ideas which I tried to apply in the classroom as well as ideas that inspired me to become more, not only as a teacher but especially as an individual..... I have come to realise that being a learner is a never‐ending journey. Striving to inquire and learn‐ not only to become a better and more successful teacher but also a better person, to be the best one can
Kismet Incer Kismet is a KGCP teacher at Bahcesehir– Knightsbridge Koleji, Kocaeli. She works with children in the Bilingual Kindergarten Programme.
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be‐ in every sense, is vital to anyone who wants an opportunity to become more remarkable and excel in what they do. The end of the term is near, but I’m still excited about every single day that brings me a meaningful objective and a chance to succeed. Keep striving!!! R
W E
L E A R N
B E S T
W H E N
W E
L E A R N
T O G E T H E R
Children create posters of what it means to be friends to support their inquiry in the Friendship unit of inquiry
Children play games that support problem solving whilst having fun
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Flip side We all have a little trick or two we can share
T o learn with, through and from"..… are words that have stuck with me. It doesn’t matter where we are or who we are with, we can all learn from each
other. Whether we’re open to it or not, the opportunity still stands or lies, whichever way you prefer to look at it. On the flip side, just as we can learn, we all have a little trick or two we can share. Perhaps you’re wondering where this is going. Throughout the course of this school year, my colleague and I taught ten Year 1's and 2's at Knightsbridge School Montenegro. To begin with, my colleague and I were so different that it took some getting used to, for us both to learn how to lead and follow each other with our group. Boy oh boy, the kids never failed to amuse us. At Teachers' College they think they are preparing you for life in the classroom but they don’t know the half of it! We all come from such different backgrounds and parenting styles with intriguing personalities and temperaments all mixed together, and it gets very interesting! Perhaps this is where I fill you in on my personal inquiry,
“exploring ways in which we communicate our emotions and feelings.”
As you can tell, I like to express and share what I think and how I feel. I am still learning to accept that others do not always feel the same way. Some think it’s better to just think it, without expressing it, and perhaps it seems easier for them. Who am I to judge? ‘To each, their own’, some would say. What’s more important is our respect for each other’s differences. I prefer to lean towards acceptance rather than just respect, but it is a start. I believe acceptance comes with one’s ability to understand another’s position and perspective, which seems to relate to a growth in empathy. Does that make sense?
Now, how do you get a classroom of curious minds and bodies to understand it, much less live it? Aha! Now we’re talking inquiry. I’ll try to mix some of my philosophical madness with some practical aspects here. What do you do when one of your learners crawls under the table and won’t come out; or one of your boys refuses to even look at one of your girls, much less partner with her for our field trip; a new student who won’t say a word to anyone for five weeks; or a student who does great work individually, but once working with peers, let’s them lead him astray? Did I mention that little one who doesn’t understand much but is the fiercest one of them all; or that competitive streak that makes one want to burst, if one doesn’t win? We are all equipped with unique combinations, both social and emotional, and they affect one another. These feelings won’t go away, especially if we don’t recognise them. It seems that the more we try to deny them, the more they tend to grow. We are all so unique in our own ways, wanting to be heard and seen for all that we are. This goes for each and every one of us ‐ big, medium or small. I fought this for a long time, but the reality is that if you look closely, we are all a lot more similar than we are different. So, how does this apply back in the classroom full of five, six and seven years olds...some that have never been to school before and some that have, but perhaps in another language? Some understand some English, one or two are fluent and some have no English. But, they are all here to learn. All eyes are on you. How you are going to respond? To begin with, I firmly believe that consistency is the
Dorothy‐Ann DeFreitas Dorothy‐Anne is a Year 1 and 2 teacher at KS Montenegro. She has been a member of the school team since September 2010.
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key. Someone once told me that what you say and what you do, tells me who you are. If you generally get the same result every time you act, there is consistency, which helps you to learn to adjust to suit. On the contrary, if you are able to manipulate a situation, you will continue to try to push the boundaries. I expect that this works for all of us. 'No means no', no matter when or where, and not a bit of both as that’s where we all get confused. But, what’s more important is understanding WHY. Talk about it as we always have a choice. Life is full of them. Don’t deny them, take them in and have a good look and then decide. Or you can just jump and decide without much thought. But, recognise, embrace and accept the choice you’ve made, as you have to live with it. This is how we learn, no matter what.....good or bad. Finally, looking back on this year as it relates to learning, my students perhaps have no idea, but they have taught me so much. I learned with, through and from them, as I listened and responded to the questions they asked. There were many questions, such as the small stuff, “How come he can sit there?” and, “I want to have a chance to share my story too” to the bigger stuff, “I can’t sit and eat lunch next to her, looking at her makes me sick”, and, “I hate him, he is annoying and I want nothing to do with him”. What do you do when these things are said and you are the leader, with ten pairs of eyes looking for your response? Freeze? Perhaps for a few seconds, but then you need to respond! And you better think carefully, as most of them retain every single word. Initially, you let them know, it’s only natural to feel what they are feeling, following which, you teach them strategies. I quite like Kelso’s choices; the little green frog that has some simple ideas to help them manage their conflicts, making them more aware of the choices they have and can make to solve their own problems. There is no point in getting involved every time they have a problem because, what happens when we are not around? Who will they turn to? I believe in putting them in the driver’s seat. I believe in helping them become more
aware of their feelings and emotions, recognising how they feel and why they feel the way they do and furthermore making choices to deal with their emotions. For we all have our own hopes and dreams, some that run parallel to each other, but some that may collide. However, if we all deal with our emotions individually, we will also all be able to work together and feel all right! R I
N Q U I R Y
Children listen to instructions during the KS Montenegro “School Olympics.” Children were divided into teams and asked to design their own mascots ready for the opening ceremony. Students understood that the games would be focussed on active living, interactions with other and building identity
The schools Olympic Torch bearer
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Planting the Idea Knightsbridge School London RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012
D esigned by the children of S6 in collaboration with Knightsbridge School parents Roger Egerick and Fiona Barnett. The concept and
ethos of the Knightsbridge School exhibit, 'Planting the Idea', at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, was that even the most unpromising urban environment could be transformed with thought and application. In the process of their research into areas such as how observing biodiversity in urban planting could assist our pollinators, how best to attract birds and other wildlife and the effects of pollution, and how it could be
alleviated, the children developed an understanding and awareness that empowered them. The main focus of the children was the use of plants in unusual and recycled containers, combined with the visual impact of carefully considered 'street art' to improve a rundown urban location. A 'rubbery' of tyres, dustbins, an abandoned car, indeed, even old training shoes were all put to good use in a bid to improve the environment. It was important to the children that the plants used were able to cope with, and where possible combat, pollution,
and that biodiversity in planting was taken into account throughout, to encourage as much insect and animal activity as possible. Water was another 'must have' for the exhibit, as bees need a great quantity of it in the summer to cool the hive and as it takes one bee 40,000 trips to get one litre of water, the more the better! The use of graffiti in a positive way, indeed, as an artform, to upgrade previously vandalised walls, proved an effective means of communicating to others that they need to make change in order to see change. Through their experience as collaborators in designing this exhibit, the children have come to appreciate the importance of the individual in urban locations and how easy it is for the individual to make a difference, whatever space and materials they have at their disposal.
Knightsbridge School in the heart of central London recounts their first appearance at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and how it supports their school ethos.
R “ Inside the great pavilion was a dazzling stand with flowers blossoming out of a glistening golden temple where flowers over‐filled it, flooding out like water from the Titanic.”
Below: The Knightsbridge School Chelsea Flower Show Exhibit
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KSI is proud to announce its recent partnership with Colegio La Candelaria to provide an international bilingual curriculum for boys and girls aged 3‐18 starting in August 2012. This educational partnership marks the opportunity for local and international families to join our world‐class network of schools. From launch, the school will begin to offer the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) to students in the Lower Primary. The international school programmes for subsequent year levels will be added from 2013 transitioning the school from an all girls Colombian Catholic school to a through years IB school teaching PYP, MYP and DP. The School Director Gloria Sandoval joins KSI as an inspirational Director and valuable addition to the KSI leadership team. With 24 years of international schools experience she joins KSI from The Columbus School, Medellin, Colombia where she worked as Elementary School Principal. Gloria’s titanic drive, passion for education and collaborative style ensure that KSI will thrive in Colombia and beyond in Latin America. Knightsbridge School International – Colegio La Candelaria is located in Bogota, Colombia on a beautiful new campus which is being refurbished ready for launch in August 2012. In June 2012 the school gained International Baccalaureate candidacy status and is currently in the process of gaining AdvancED/SACs accreditation ensuring it offers a robust and supportive curriculum for its students.
Welcome to our World Colombia!
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Opening Ceremony
On the 13th August 2012 Knightsbridge Schools International hosted the official opening ceremony of our new school in Colombia. His Royal Highness Prince Maximillian of Lichtenstein, Magoo Giles, Dimitri Goulandris and Maggie Lopez represented the Knightsbridge Schools International Directors at the opening ceremony with Gloria Sandoval the School Director of Colegio La Candelaria in association with Knightsbridge Schools International. A variety of KSI colleagues & friends, local dignitaries and government officials attended the opening ceremony which was covered extensively in Colombian media. Attendees included former Ex‐Minister of Transport, German Cardona, wife of the Minister of Justice, Luz Maria
Zapata, director of the Colombo‐British Chamber of Commerce, Patricia Tovar and Psychologist, Annie de Acevedo. The event was covered widely in the Colombian local and national media. Here are a few highlights:
Left to Right: Dimitri Goulandris (KSI Executive Director); Marguerite Lopez (KSI Chief Academic Officer); Prince Max (KSI Director)
Left to Right: Magoo Giles (Knightsbridge School, London Head of School); Geoff Richardson (Columbus School, Elementary School Principal)
Left to Right: Gloria Sandoval (School Director Colombia); Francisco Rodriguez (Promoter)
Bottom image left to right: Luz María Zapata (Wife of Minister
of Justice); Germán Cardona (ex‐Minister of Transport);
Gloria Sandoval
Jet‐Set Magazine “Distinguished guest of Colombia
CARAS Magazine The second son of Hans‐Adams II, Prince of Liechtenstein, was accompanied by a large delegation headed by Dimitri Goulandris. This entrepreneur is one of the founders of the KSI School, which laid eyes on Colombia after having opened offices in the UK, Montenegro and Turkey. Knightsbridge Schools International in Colombia found the perfect match with the school La Candelaria, Bogota, Colombia. "Interest in Colombia stems from the need for options in South America for our students, that advance their studies in Europe and help them grow in a truly international environment. Seeing the transformation of Colombia in the last two decades, we thought this would be a great opportunity" said the prince of one of the smallest countries in the world ‐ with just 36,000 inhabitants ‐ but also the richest, it handles more than 80,000 million Euros into its banks. The KSI inauguration was attended by figures such as former Minister of Transport, German Cardona, wife of the Minister of Housing, Luz Maria Zapata, director of the Colombo‐British Chamber of Commerce, Patricia Tovar and psychologist, Annie de Acevedo. "The ability to collaborate with other schools in the organization will strengthen the international network, in the short and medium term," said Goulandris.
Caracol TV “Exciting new venture
Semana Media “The school will be bilingual which will further enhance the
quality of the education that Elvira Pardo Arbelaez had always
hoped for.
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PYP Curriculum Implementation Overview 2012‐2013 KSI Opportunities for Collaborative Planning
WHO
WE ARE
WWA
WHERE WE ARE
IN PLACE AND TIME
WWAPT
HOW WE
EXPRESS OURSELVES
HWEO
HOW THE
WORLD WORKS
HTWW
HOW WE
ORGANIZE OURSELVES
HWOO
SHARING
THE PLANET
STP
3‐4 Identity
Colombia 4
3‐4 Spaces
3‐4 Play
Montenegro 1
Colombia 1
3‐4 Cycles
3‐4 Roles
Colombia 2
3‐4 Animals & People
Montenegro 3
Colombia 3
4‐5 Relationships
Montenegro 2
4‐5 People’s Histories
Montenegro 4
4‐5 Stories
4‐5 Materials
4‐5 Products
4‐5 Plants
5‐6 Awareness
Montenegro 6
Colombia 2
Turkey 1
5‐6 Homes
Colombia 5
5‐6 Celebrations
Montenegro 4
Colombia 3
Turkey 2
5‐6 Living Things
Montenegro 1
Colombia 4
Turkey 3
5‐6 Transportation
Colombia 1
Turkey 4
5‐6 Local Environments
Montenegro 2
Colombia 6
6‐7 Choices
6‐7 Present & Past
Montenegro 3
Turkey 1
6‐7 Images
6‐7 Forces & Energy
Turkey 4
6‐7 Public Spaces
Montenegro 5
6‐7 Sustainability
7‐8 Role Models
Montenegro 4
Colombia 3
Turkey 2
7‐8 Physical Geography
Montenegro 2
Colombia 6
7‐8 Forms of Expression
Montenegro 1
Colombia 4
Turkey 3
7‐8 Building & Structures
Montenegro 6
Colombia 5
7‐8 Organizations
Colombia 2
7‐8 Natural Habitats
Colombia 1
8‐9 Body Systems
8‐9 History & Values
8‐9 Messages
8‐9 Changes in the Earth
8‐9 Local & Global Communication
Montenegro 5
8‐9 Distribution of Wealth
Montenegro 3
9‐10 Beliefs & Values
Colombia 3
9‐10 Exploration
Montenegro 1
Colombia 1
Turkey 1
9‐10 Using Arts
Montenegro 4
Colombia 2
Turkey 2
9‐10 Energy
Colombia 6
9‐10 Digital Media
Montenegro 3
Colombia 4
Turkey 3
9‐10 Children Worldwide
Colombia 5
Turkey 4
10‐11 Changes
Montenegro 5
Colombia 2
Turkey 1
10‐11 Past Civilizations
Colombia 1
Turkey 2
10‐11 Creating & Responding
to Art
Colombia 6
Turkey 3
10‐11 Natural Materials
Colombia 4
10‐11 Economic Activity
Colombia 3
10‐11 Conflict
Colombia 5
11‐12 Cultural Background
11‐12 Human Migration
11‐12 Behaviour
11‐12 Scientific Knowledge
Montenegro 5
Turkey 4
11‐12 Government Systems
11‐12 Biodiversity
Montenegro 6
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IB Learner Profile Knightsbridge Schools encourage learners across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. The aim of our programme is to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet help to create a better and more peaceful world. All members of Knightsbridge Schools should strive to be: Inquirers Develop their natural curiosity Acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning Actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives
Knowledgeable Explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance Acquire in‐depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines Thinkers Exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognise and approach complex
problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions
Communicators Understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a
variety of modes of communication Work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others
Principled Act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the
individual, groups and communities Take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them
Open‐minded Understand and appreciate their won cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values
and traditions of other individuals and communities Are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the
experience
Caring Show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feeling of others Have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the
environment
Risk Taker Approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of
spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. Are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs
Balanced Understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well‐being for
themselves and others
Reflective Give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experiences Are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and
personal development
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KSI Director’s Comments.....
With an army background and latterly in public relations, I am privileged and proud to be involved in KSI’s vision for the schooling of children in different parts of the world. I have met our pupils in Turkey and in Montenegro and have seen for myself how confident and caring they were. KSI is living its mission and turning out children who look beyond local influences with respect for their fellow beings, irrespective of colour or creed, and care for the environment. They are truly global citizens. George Attard Mache (KSI Director)
“
”I became involved in Education when I was made a Freeman of the Haberdashers Livery Company, I had little idea what the journey was going to be like, but I soon realised how important the whole process was to changing people's lives. I remember hearing Sir Peter Lampl, founder of Sutton Trust, speak. He was passionate about giving everyone a chance in life, and education was the way to make that happen. I became a Governor of the Haberdasher Aske's Girls School; it is a top private day school and is heavily over subscribed, but I saw how lucky those girls were to be at the school, most of them knew it as well. The Livery Company runs over 5 Academies. I am now a Governor of 2 of them up in Shropshire, one a top Grammar School, the other was a failing secondary school that we have now turned around and which has an outstanding Head in place. You can see that the children stand a good chance of going to University and moving up in the world, there are many discussions about social mobility but one thing that everyone agrees on is that the best way to achieve it is through Education. Knightsbridge International Schools (KSI) may be a for profit organisation but we passionately believe that through a top education at one of our schools, we can develop Global Citizens who realise that it is important to give something back to society , whether through charitable giving, time or just helping others get along in life. KSI has a long way to go but it has learned a lot from Knightsbridge School in London, where the ethos is exactly the same: Keep it Simple and Keep Smiling. William Russell (KSI Director)
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”My wife and I have lived in countries around the world, and our children have attended international schools in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Had there been a Knightsbridge School at the time, I know that we would have been delighted for it to be the basis of their education. Why? Because I believe that the ethos and the Knightsbridge Schools (KS) Code that drives our approach to education will produce well‐rounded global citizens, ready to take their place in the world – and make a positive contribution to that world. The words we use can so often appear trite, but Empathy, Curiosity, Creativity, Confidence, Cooperation, Commitment, Appreciation, Tolerance, Respect, Integrity, Independence and Enthusiasm are truly the very foundation of Knightsbridge International Schools (KSI). They are our values, and we expect every member of the KSI Community – students, teachers, support staff and, yes, parents to live by these values. That is why we have a Chief Ethos Officer, in the engaging character of Magoo Giles –I know of no other organisation either in education or in business that has committed such resources to culture and ethos. We are a young, small organisation and as organisations grow, they can sometimes lose track as to why they started in the first place. When I look at our schools, our teachers, our students and our parents, I am reassured that the KS Code will remain inculcated into KSI, regardless of our size and the geographic diversity of our schools. Richard Tangye (KSI Director & Chairman)
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Knightsbridge Schools International Staff 2011‐2012
Head Office Dimitri Goulandris ‐ Executive Director Marguerite Lopez ‐ Chief Academic Officer Emily Sheetz ‐ VP of Business Development & Chief Finance Officer Fleur Primavera ‐ Office Assistant & Exchange Programme Coordinator
Directors Richard Tangye ‐ Chairman of the Board Magoo Giles ‐ Chief Ethos Officer William Russell ‐ Director George Attard Manche ‐ Director Prince Maximillian of Liechtenstein ‐ Director Rosamund Marshall ‐ Director Donald Jeffery Keller ‐ Director
Corine van den Wildenberg ‐ School Director Teaching Staff:
Jennifer Dwyer ‐ Kindergarten 3 & Kindergarten 4 Nađa Živković ‐ Kindergarten 3 & Kindergarten 4 Dorothy Anne DeFreitas ‐ Year 1 & Year 2 Marija Djukić ‐ Year 1 & Year 2 Jenny Von Zastrow ‐Year 3 & Year 4 Jelena Badža ‐ Year 3 & Year 4 Corinne Gerling ‐ Year 5 & Year 6 Milija Božović ‐ Year 5 & Year 6 Other Staff:
Tamara Radaković ‐ School Administrator Martina Dujmušić ‐ School Nurse/After School Activity‐Coordinator Aleksandar Perović ‐ Security / Care Taker
New in 2012‐2013
Slavica Milić – Admissions Officer starts with KS Montenegro in September 2012 Marija Djukić becomes KS Montenegro’s language support teacher Corinne Gerling becomes KS Montenegro Professional development mentor Jenny von Zastrow becomes KS Montenegro PYP Coordinator
Mahmut Kalcı‐ Head of School Gamze Unay‐ KGCP Coordinator KGCP Teaching Staff:
Melanie Flores ‐ Bilingual Kindergarten Seana Ford ‐ Bilingual Kindergarten Kismet İncer ‐ Bilingual Kindergarten Nazlı Açıcı ‐ Kindergarten Robyn‐Michelle LeRoux ‐ Kindergarten Colleen MacFarlane ‐ Upper Primary Meaghan Low ‐ Lower Primary Serpil Çerniski Güler‐ Lower Primary Nicholas Paul Facey ‐ Lower Primary Mustafa Karagöl ‐ Lower Primary Ebru Bahadır ‐ Lower Primary Belen Baş ‐ Upper Primary Işıl Adaklı ‐ Upper Primary Orçun Barış ‐ Upper Primary Amy Townsend ‐ High School Tuğçe Sert ‐ High School Yasemin Usta ‐ High School Serdar Çilek ‐ High School Meral Kolayiş ‐ High School (German) Seda Tosun ‐ High School (German)
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Other KGCP Staff:
Hicran Turan Bilingual Administrative Assistant Burhan Yıldız ICT Co‐coordinator New to the KGCP in 2012‐2013: Alan Constable ‐ Teacher & Learning Mentor Nancy Hanna ‐ Bilingual Kindergarten Teacher Cassandra Holmes ‐ Bilingual Kindergarten Teacher Hatice Dinibütünoğlu ‐ Bilingual Kindergarten Buket Cengiz Uğuz ‐ Lower Primary
New in 2012‐2013 Gloria Sandoval ‐ School Director Teaching Staff
Vanessa Romero ‐ PYP Coordinator Maria Teresa Charry ‐ Nursery to Reception Evangelina Junca ‐ Year 1 to Year 2 Andrea Shum ‐ Year 3 to Year 4 Travis Kruger ‐ Year 5 Victoria Cabrera de Vanegas ‐ Year 6 Tatiana Avila Morales ‐ Primary Teaching Assistant Carolina Gomez ‐ Primary Teaching Assistant Diana Gallon ‐ Primary Spanish Carlos Arias ‐ Primary Physical Education Dino Lino Mendieta ‐ Music Lina Rodriguez Lockett ‐ Art Yennena Katiuska Castro Maldonado ‐ ICT Andrea Roa ‐ Spanish and Reading Patricia Salcedo ‐ Ethnics/values/Religion Andres Bernate ‐ Spanish and Social Studies Laura Florez León ‐ Spanish and Social Studies Miguel Angel Roa Moreno ‐ Physical Education Caitlin Lehman ‐ Secondary English Adriana Cardenas Science Paola Gomez Rodriguez ‐ Secondary Science Natalia Quiñones ‐ Secondary Mathematics Andrea Castellanos ‐ English and Geography Susana Cuervo Campos ‐ Physics and Mathematics Clara Mor de Hernández‐ Secondary French AnaMaria Fernández De Castro del Castillo ‐ School Counselor
Carolina Mendez Sanchez ‐ School Counselor Patricia Rincon –Librarian Hugo Horacio Lotero ‐ ICT Coordinator
Administrative Staff
Diego Sandoval ‐ Academic Secretary Karol Duarte Montes ‐ Human Resources Coordinator Sonia Palomino ‐ Operations Manager Marcela Pepin ‐ Admissions Coordinator Edgar Molina Barahona ‐ Financial Manager Diego Maldonado ‐ Accountant Angelica Nuñez Olaya ‐ Assistant Accountant Paola Otalora ‐ Assistant Accountant Claudia Ospina ‐ Parent Teacher Association Julieth Rojas ‐ Receptionist General Services and Other Staff
Luz Angela Rubio ‐ School Nurse Mary Luz Santiago ‐ Fundación EAdeP Patricia Rodriguez ‐ Cafeteria Manager Gladys Carillo ‐ Cafeteria Staff Nohelia Criollo ‐ Cafeteria Staff Maria Estrella Cruz ‐ Cafeteria Staff Luz Mila Duarte ‐ Cafeteria Staff Maria del Carmen Florez ‐ Cafeteria Staff Olga Patricia Gil ‐ Cafeteria Staff Rosa Elvira Guarn ‐ Cafeteria Staff Mercedes Riaño ‐ Cafeteria Staff Ismelia Vega ‐ Cafeteria Staff Carlos Garcia ‐ Cafeteria Staff and Maintenance Said Forero ‐ Supplies Fabio Hurtado ‐ Maintenance Manager Jose Bernardo Cristancho ‐ Maintenance Staff Pedro Miguel Parra ‐ Maintenance Staff Luis Miguel Venegas ‐ Maintenance Staff Diego Hurtado ‐ Maintenance Staff Edgar Sierra ‐ Maintenance Staff Leidy Patiño ‐ General Services